Medicare Backing Off Lab Order Signature
Requirement
A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services requirement that all clinical
lab orders and requisitions be signed
by the requesting physician likely will
be rescinded. A June 30 proposed rule
from CMS reverses the policy included
in the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee
Schedule Final Rule.
Though the requirement took effect
January 1, complaints from physicians, laboratories, and members of
Congress led CMS to not enforce the
policy while reviewing its future. Opponents say requiring signatures on lab
orders and requisitions is an unnecessary act that could adversely affect patient care by slowing down testing and
create undue paperwork for providers.
While the intent was to reduce fraud,
the American Clinical Laboratory Association said current medical record
documentation for lab orders is sufficient to hold physicians accountable
and root out fraud.
“Requiring physician signatures on
laboratory requisitions or orders only
puts the laboratory in the untenable
position of either having to delay pro-
viding service while it follows up with
the physician to obtain a signature,
or providing the service but not being
able to bill for it,” read the ACLA’s com-
ments to CMS on the new rule. “Such
a choice might be acceptable if it oc-
curred infrequently, but laboratories
perform tens of thousands of tests
each day, which will make it impossible
to follow up on every missing and illeg-
ible signature.”
Most other payers don’t require phy-
sician signatures, ACLA said, meaning
labs would have to sort through claims
to ensure all its Medicare orders were
signed.
The proposed rule rescinding the
signature requirement is expected to
be finalized after an open public comment period ends August 29. ¢
ENHANCED CLOUD PLATFORM
www.advancedmd.com
ADP AdvancedMD announced the
availability of the AdvancedMD EHR
2011 Summer release. The cloud plat-
form delivers new meaningful use com-
pliance at a glance, clinical reporting,
an online patient portal, group messag-
ing, and “break the glass” emergency
features.
EMR SOFTWARE
www.praxisemr.com
Infor-Med Corporation introduced the
latest version of its Praxis EMR. The
EMR generates reportable data within
free text and is equipped with a power-
ful query and practice guideline engine.
NEW PHR VERSION
www.dossia.org
Dossia has released a new version of
its personal health record called Dossia
Health Manager. The PHR offers tele-
consultation services with a physician,
the ability to share PHR records with
physicians, and wellness-based social
networking services.
CMS Adjusts Payment Rates for FY 2012
In August the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services published the final
rule for the FY 2012 Inpatient Prospective Payment System, which included
updated payment policies and rates
for acute care hospitals paid under the
Inpatient Prospective Payment System and hospitals paid under the Long
Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System.
Medicare payment rates for inpatient
services at acute care hospitals will increase 1 percent in fiscal 2012, while
payment rates for long-term care hospitals will increase 1. 8 percent.
The rate increases are projected to
boost acute care payments by $1.13
billion and long-term acute care payments by $126 million.
The updates to the Inpatient and
Long Term Care Prospective Payment
Program. The rule also established the
framework for a new quality reporting
program for hospitals paid under the
LTC PPS.
FINANCIAL/CLINICAL HOSPITAL INFORMATION
SYSTEM
www.healthland.com
Healthland has introduced the next
generation of its integrated financial/
clinical hospital information system for
small and rural hospitals. The Health-
land Centriq system is Web-based with
a single database and can be hosted
remotely by the vendor. The system
also supports data access via tablet
computers and smart phones.
ICD-10-PCS TRAINING
www.ahimastore.org
AHIMA’s ICD-10-PCS Coder Training
Manual provides a textual adaptation
of AHIMA’s “ICD-10-PCS Overview:
Deciphering the Code,” a distance
education course that is a prerequisite
to AHIMA’s ICD- 10 Academies. The
manual also includes references to and
explanations of ICD-10-PCS coding
guidelines and conventions and coding
exercises at the beginning, intermedi-
ate, and advanced level. ¢
