By STEPHEN SHAVER, Wachler & Associates, P.C.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released a report outlining the results of a review it conducted of claims for physician and other practitioner services provided to Medicare patients during Medicare Part A covered skilled nursing facility (SNF) and hospital stays. OIG asserted that physicians were miscoding the location where these services were provided, leading Medicare to make tens of millions of dollars in overpayments. This report is likely to lead to overpayment demands, further audits of providers, and increased scrutiny of place of service (POS) codes.

Each time a physician or other fee-for-service (FFS) healthcare [Read More]

By SARA JODKA

Introduction

As the intersection of technology and healthcare becomes increasingly nuanced, the field of genomic medicine is rapidly evolving and expanding. Genomic medicine, or personalized medicine focusing on the data holding information on base sequence in an individual’s genome, uses an individual’s genetic information to guide healthcare decisions. This revolutionary medical field promises immense benefits to patients, researchers, and healthcare providers. Nevertheless, it brings with it a number of complex privacy concerns that must be adequately addressed in law to ensure that patient data remains confidential and secure.

This article examines the current legal landscape, identifies the unique challenges genomic data privacy poses, and explores the opportunities for developing legal [Read More]

Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Conversion Therapy Ban Moves Again, Less than 24 Hours Later

Bills that ban conversion therapy for minors were voted out of the House Health Policy Committee after being voted out of a subcommittee less than 24 hours prior.

Conversion therapy, the practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression to align with heterosexual or cisgender norms, is not therapy at all, said Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Ann Arbor), chair of the Behavioral Health subcommittee.

The bills are an explicit ban on “saying to someone, ‘who you are is not OK, and it’s wrong.’ That’s not [Read More]

By DARIUS TAHIR

What use could health care have for someone who makes things up, can’t keep a secret, doesn’t really know anything, and, when speaking, simply fills in the next word based on what’s come before? Lots, if that individual is the newest form of artificial intelligence, according to some of the biggest companies out there.

Companies pushing the latest AI technology — known as “generative AI” — are piling on: Google and Microsoft want to bring types of so-called large language models to health care. Big firms that are familiar to folks in white coats — but maybe less so to your average Joe and Jane — are equally enthusiastic: Electronic medical records giants [Read More]

The number of patients assigned to nurses would be limited and nurses’ mandatory overtime reduced, under legislation reintroduced in the House and Senate with Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) support.

The package, called the Safe Patient Care Act, was intended to improve nursing retention. It was immediately opposed by the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit)’s SB 334 , and Rep. Stephanie Young (D-Detroit)’S HB 4550 limit the number of patients a nurse can be assigned.

The bills establish a one-to-one ratio in intensive care units, during trauma or critical care for triage duties, in operating rooms, during conscious sedation and post-anesthesia, during active labor and birth, immediately postpartum and in cases of an unstable newborn.

In pregnancy [Read More]

By EWA MATUSZEWSKI
I wrote in February that we are entering the era of the community health worker (CHW). I reiterate that today, but fear that I spoke too soon on one aspect of the CHW movement. Unsurprisingly, it’s reimbursement. Here’s what I said then:

“Many insurers are also beginning to recognize the community health worker as the new, must-have care team member for an efficient connector between clinician and community…Some services of a CHW are reimbursable to the provider; however, they must be connected to a clinical organization.”

While I was accurate in noting the existence of reimbursable services, I believe I was too optimistic in how I presented the information. The [Read More]

By ROLF LOWE
Over the last thirty years the transition from handwritten and dictated patient notes to electronic health records (EHR) has created efficiencies for providers. While EHRs were introduced with the idea of better patient care and less administrative burdens, they have also created issues that didn’t exist when the norm was to create a contemporaneous handwritten note in a patient’s chart. One of these issues is the “cloning” of a procedure or a SOAP note in a patient’s chart. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in its EHR Provider Fact Sheet defines cloning as the practice of copying and pasting previously recorded information from a prior note into [Read More]

By RALPH LEVY, JR.
In prior articles in this publication, this author addressed a federal tax issue faced by practice entities- the possible attack by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on a common practice of incorporated medical and other types of practice groups.  By use of the “zero out” technique to pay compensation to the practice group’s owners as salaries during the year and year-end bonuses, practice groups organized as ‘C’ corporations (set up as a professional corporation or professional association under local law) will pay little or no federal income taxes.  The potential tax risk to this compensation method is that depending on the facts and circumstances of each situation, [Read More]

 Lansing Lines is presented in cooperation with MIRS, a Lansing-based news and information service.

Homeless Youth Could Receive Health Care Under Bill

Homeless youth would be able to access health care without parental consent under a bill sponsored by Rep. Amos Oneal (D-Saginaw) that is part of a bill package sponsored by Rep. Lori Stone (D-Warren)  and Rep. John Roth (R-Interlochen).

Under HB 4085 , HB 4086 and HB 4087 , homeless or runaway youth between the ages of 16 and 21 would have to establish with the child care institutions’ staff that they do not have access to a safe living environment with their parent and have no other safe alternative living arrangement besides a homeless youth shelter in order to qualify [Read More]

By PAUL NATINSKY
Regardless of the state of science or prejudices of politics, the common cultural vibe is that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. I saw convincing evidence on a trip to visit a friend recovering from a stroke at a Southeast Michigan hospital. The nurses staffing the desk on his floor either had their masks at half-mast (below the nose) or completely furled.

In mid-April the official lowering of sails was announced. May 11 will be the date on which the national emergency initiated by then-President Trump and renewed twice by President Biden is set to expire. The end of required fabric face filters is mostly a symbolic end to COVID [Read More]