Contact Us
Subscribe to this blog via RSS
Join us on LinkedInCategories
- Medical Spas
- medical billing
- No Surprises Act
- Mandatory vaccination policies
- Workplace health
- Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act
- Code Enforcement
- Department of Labor ("DOL")
- Employment Law
- FFCRA
- CARES Act
- Nursing Home Reform Act
- COVID-19
- SB 150
- Acute Care Beds
- Clinical Support
- Coronavirus
- Emergency Medical Services
- Emergency Preparedness
- Families First Coronavirus Response Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”)
- KBML
- medication assisted therapy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Legislative Developments
- Corporate
- United States Department of Justice ("DOJ")
- Employee Contracts
- Non-Compete Agreement
- Opioid Epidemic
- Sexual Harassment
- Health Resource and Services Administration
- Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
- House Bill 333
- Senate Bill 79
- locum tenens
- Senate Bill 4
- Physician Prescribing Authority
- Chronic Pain Management
- HIPAA
- Prescription Drugs
- "Two Midnights Rule"
- 340B Program
- Hospice
- Kentucky minimum wage
- Minimum wage
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (“SNFs”)
- Uncategorized
- Drug Screening
- EHR Systems
- Electronic Health Records (“EHR")
- ICD-10
- Primary Care Physicians ("PCPs")
- Urinalysis
- Affordable Insurance Exchanges
- Compliance
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- Fraud
- Health Care Fraud
- HIPAA Risk Assessment
- KASPER
- Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure
- Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services
- Mental Health Care
- Office for Civil Rights ("OCR")
- Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (OIG)
- Physician Assistants
- Qui Tam
- Stark Laws
- Accountable Care Organizations (“ACO”)
- Affordable Care Act
- Alternative Payment Models
- Anti-Kickback Statute
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”)
- Certificate of Need ("CON")
- Charitable Hospitals
- Data Breach
- Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI)
- False Claims Act
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (“FQHCs”)
- Fee for Service
- Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
- Health Professional Shortage Area ("HPSA")
- Hospitals
- HPSA
- HRSA
- Limited Services Clinics
- Medicaid
- Medical Staff By-Laws
- Medically Underserved Area ("MUA")
- Medicare
- Mid-Level Practitioners
- Part D
- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”)
- Pharmacists
- Rural Health Centers (“RHCs”)
- Rural Health Clinic
- Telehealth
- American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”)
- Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)
- Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (“HEAT”)
- Hydrocodone
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Pharmacists Association
- Qualified Health Care Centers (“FQHC”)
- Telemedicine
- APRNs
- Chain and Organization System (“PECOS”)
- Jimmo v. Sebelius
- Maintenance Standard
- Overpayments
- United States ex. Rel. Kane v. Continuum Health Partners
- Vitas Innovative Hospice Care
- Webinar
- Agreed Order
- All-Payer Claims Database ("APCD")
- Chiropractic services
- Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (“CLIA”)
- Compliance Officer
- CPR
- Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California
- Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA")
- Emergency Rooms
- Enrollment
- Essential Health Benefits
- Hinchy v. Walgreen Co.
- ICD-9
- Kentucky Senate Bill 7
- Medicare Part D
- Minors
- Ophthalmological services
- Physician Compare website
- Re-validation
- Texting
- 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (“PFS”)
- 501(c)(3)
- Affinity Health Plan
- Appeal
- Cadillac tax
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Chronic Care Management
- Community health needs assessment (“CHNA”)
- Compounding
- Condition of Participation ("CoP")
- Denied Claims
- Department of Medicaid Services’ (“DMS”)
- Dispenser
- Drug Quality and Security Act (“DQSA”)
- Federation of State Medical Boards (“FSMB”)
- Food and Drug Administratio
- Form 4720
- Grace Period
- HealthCare.gov
- Home Health Prospective Payment System
- Home Medical Equipment Providers
- House Bill 3204
- Individual mandate
- Inpatient Care
- Kentucky Medical Practice Act
- Kindred v. Cherolis
- Kynect
- Licensure Requirements
- Long-term care communities
- Long-Term Care Providers ("LTC")
- Low-utilization payment adjustment ("LUPA")
- Medicare Shared Saving Program (MSSP)
- Mobile medical applications ("apps")
- Model Policy for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice (“Model Policy”)
- National Drug Code ("NDC")
- National Institutes of Health
- New England Compounding Center ("NECC")
- Nonprofit hospitals
- Nonroutine medical supplies conversion factor (“NRS”)
- Outsourcing facility
- Personal Service Entities
- Physician Payments
- Ping v. Beverly Enterprises
- Power of Attorney ("POA")
- Prescriber
- Qualified Health Plan ("QHP")
- Quality reporting
- Social Media
- Spousal coverage
- State Health Plan
- Sustainable Growth Rate (“SGR”)
- UPS
- “Superuser”
- "Plan of Correction"
- Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
- Arbitration
- Audit
- Business Associate Agreements
- Business Associates
- Call Coverage
- Daycare centers
- Decertification
- Division of Regulated Child Care
- Doe v. Guthrie Clinic
- EHR vendor
- Employer Group Health Plans
- Employer Mandate
- ERISA
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- False Billings
- Group Purchasing Organizations ("GPO")
- Health Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”)
- Health Reform
- Hospitalists
- House Bill 104
- Intermediate Sanctions Agreement
- Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange
- Kentucky House Bill 217
- Licensed practical nurses (LPN)
- List of Excluded Individuals and Entities
- LLC v. Sutter
- Meaningful use incentives
- Medicare Administrative Coordinators
- Medicare Benefit Policy Manual
- Network provider agreement
- Nurse practitioners (NP)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”)
- Part A
- Part B
- Patient Autonomy
- Patient Privacy
- Payors
- Personal Health Information
- Physician Recruitment
- Physician shortages
- Provider Self Disclosure Protocol
- Registered nurses (RN)
- Residency Programs
- Self-Disclosure Protocol
- Senate Bill 39
- Senate Finance Committee Report
- State Medicaid Expansion
- Statement of Deficiency ("SOD")
- Trade Association Group Coverage
- Upcoding
- Autism/ASD
- Center for Disease Control
- Compliance Programs
- Critical Access Hospitals (“CAHs”)
- Essential Health Benefits (“EHBs”)
- Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA")
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
- Kentucky House Bill 159
- Kentucky Primary Care Centers (“PCCs”)
- Managed Care Organizations (“MCOs”)
- Medicare Audit Improvement Act of 2012
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”)
- Recovery Audit Contractors (“RAC”)
- Small Business Health Options Program (“SHOP”)
- Sunshine Act
- Abuse and Waste
- Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan programs (“CO-OPS”)
- Free Conference Committee Report
- Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program
- House Bill 1
- House Bill 4
- Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services
- Kentucky Health Care Co-Op
- Kentucky Health Cooperative (“KYHC”)
- Kentucky “Pill Mill Bill”
- Pain Management Facilities
- Employee Agreement
- Health Care Law
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare Regulation
McBrayer Blogs
The Sun is Not Setting on the EHR Safe Harbor
Posted In Anti-Kickback Statute, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), Compliance Officer, EHR Systems, EHR vendor, Electronic Health Records (“EHR"), Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), Stark Laws
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) recently announced that the regulation allowing certain health care entities to donate electronic health records (with the entity subsiding up to 85% of the donor’s costs) to physicians has been extended to December 31, 2021. The regulation, which provided a safe harbor from the Stark Law and Anti-kickback statute, was set to expire on December 31, 2013.
Equipping an office with EHR systems and technology is a difficult and expensive task for physicians; the extension is no doubt a welcome relief as physicians continue to integrate EHR systems into their practices. The rule also:
- Excludes lab companies from the scope of protected donors. CMS made this change due to “concerns articulated by commenters and the wide-ranging support from the entire spectrum of the laboratory industry (from small, pathologist-owned laboratory companies to a national laboratory trade association that represents the industry’s largest laboratory companies).” This change will become effective on March 27, 2014.
- Provides revisions to what type of software is considered “interoperable” for the purposes of donation and what is included in “covered technology.”
- Removes from the exception the requirement related to e-prescribing capabilities.
Many healthcare and IT groups advocated for a permanent removal of the sunset date, but CMS and OIG believe that a permanent safe harbor would be a disincentive to EHR adoption and may lead to inappropriate “lock in” of data and referrals between recipients and donors. Under the final rule, any donor limitations or restrictions on the use, compatibility, or interoperability of donated EHR items and services with other e-prescribing or EHR systems remains prohibited.
With the sunset date now extended, physicians and qualifying donors should review and amend donation agreements. Likewise, labs and those receiving donations from labs must terminate or restructure arrangements by the March 27 deadline.
If you have questions regarding the final rule or would like assistance in contracting for EHR systems, contact the health care attorneys at McBrayer today.
Lisa English Hinkle is a Member of McBrayer law. Ms. Hinkle concentrates her practice area in healthcare law and is located in the firm’s Lexington office. She can be reached at lhinkle@mcbrayerfirm.com or at (859) 231-8780, ext. 1256.
Services may be performed by others.
This article does not constitute legal advice.
