CMS Final Regulations for Accrediting Organizations0

The following e-Bulletin was published by the California State Bar, Business Law Section, on May 21, 2015.

CMS issued its proposed final regulations for accrediting organizations, revising the survey, certification and enforcement procedures relating to CMS oversight of entities such as the Joint Commission and the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program. These revisions implement provisions under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), as well as clarify CMS’ oversight of these accrediting organizations.

In general, providers and suppliers of health care services must be substantially in compliance with certain statutory requirements before participating in the Medicare program. These obligations are known as “conditions of participation” (CoPs) for hospitals and most providers, “requirements” for skilled nursing facilities, and “conditions for coverage” (CfCs) for ambulatory surgical centers. Failure to meet the standards set forth by CMS may compromise a provider’s ability to participate in the Medicare Program.

Following the April 5, 2013 proposed regulations, the final regulations accomplish, in part, the following:

  1. Confirm CMS’ standards to the MIPPA revisions.
  2. Clarify and reorganize existing regulations, eliminate potentially confusing and unnecessary duplication.
  3. Strengthen CMS’s ability to oversee the 21 CMS-approved accrediting organizations.

The text of these final regulations can be found here.

 

HIPAA: Society’s Modern Day Prohibition0

This article, HIPAA: Society’s Modern Day Prohibition, was first published in California Healthcare News on May 4, 2015.

HIPAA: Society’s Modern Day Prohibition
HIPAA: Society’s Modern Day Prohibition

Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.” – James Joyce, Ulysses

Codified in American Law through Article Three of the United States Constitution and evolving through changing times by way of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, the right to trial by jury remains a sacrosanct keystone of our nation’s legal system. Even so, there exists a degree of delicacy with which the judicial system evaluates the facts of any given case, and all involved must remain mindful that at times pertinent information may not be available for consideration. Significant violations of judicial filtering may result in the end of deliberations, known more abrasively as a “mistrial.”

The judicial system understands all too well that information cannot be honestly disregarded or ignored once heard, and does its best to account for the imperfections of the human mind. To enforce the Constitutional tenets of trust and truth upon which the faith of a jury must rest, today’s health care providers find themselves held to a unique standard of scrutiny when dealing with issues of privacy.Read more →