Health News
- Most Kentucky Hospitals Will Pay Medicare Penalties Under Health Reform, One The Country's Largest; Look Them Up Here
More Kentucky hospitals are receiving penalties than bonuses in the second year of Medicare?s quality incentive programs, one of the federal health reform law?s changes designed to create financial rewards for doctors and hospitals to provide better care....
- Kentucky Center Helps More Than 1,000 Providers Get Electronic Health Records
The Kentucky Regional Extension Center has helped more than 1,000 health care providers transition to electronic health records, with specialists advising providers so they can meet the federal standards of "Meaningful Use." "Quick access to electronic...
- Switch To Electronic Medical Records Not Without Concerns
Though touted as a way to improve patient care and supported by federal funding, Kentucky physicians have concerns about switching to electronic medical records. Doctors are worried about cost, lost productivity, the possibility that the technology becomes...
- Electronic Health Records Are The New Frontier In Health Care
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News Just two years ago, the acronym EHR didn't mean much to many people. But since Congress passed the health-care reform law last year, physicians and hospitals have become intimately acquainted with it ? and patients...
- Acos: Health Care?s Big Project
Medicare beneficiaries who are patients of 32 groups of health care providers have started to receive letters informing them that they are now patients of an Accountable Care Organization, or ACO. ACOs are the focus of a new Medicare demonstration project...
Health News
Several pieces of federal health reform law taking effect in 2012
At the beginning of the new year, family doctors started facing a 1 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement if they hadn't nixed their paper-based prescription pads in favor of an electronic version. The change is part of another piece of the federal health-care reform law taking effect, USA Today reports.
"There will be a significant number of folks that will incur the penalty," said Robert Tennant, senior policy adviser with the Medical Group Management Association.
E-prescribing, which allows physicians to generate, transmit and file patient prescriptions, is part of the federal government's effort to get doctors to use electronic health records. Last year, doctors received bonuses from Medicare and Medicaid to set up EHRs, but this year they will start being penalized if they haven't already done so ? 1 percent this year, 1.5 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2014.
Another piece of the federal health care reform law that will begin falling into place in 2012 involves Medicare's Shared Savings Program, "under which groups that qualify as accountable care organizations will be eligible for shared savings in 2013," USA Today reports. "Under the program, savings from participants in an ACO ? including hospitals and doctors working together to improve patient care and reduce costs ? would be shared between Medicare and the providers."
One study showed Kentucky already has three ACOs established, though several Kentucky experts have said no ACOs have been formed in the state yet.
Jan. 1 also marked the beginning of consumers being eligible for rebates if their insurer spent less than it should have on medical care. As per the new law, insurers have to spend 85 percent for large group plans and 80 percent for small groups and individuals on medical care as opposed to administrative and other costs. Kentuckians will not be privy to these rebates this year, however. Kentucky got a one-year break from the rule after applying for an exemption. (Read more)
- Most Kentucky Hospitals Will Pay Medicare Penalties Under Health Reform, One The Country's Largest; Look Them Up Here
More Kentucky hospitals are receiving penalties than bonuses in the second year of Medicare?s quality incentive programs, one of the federal health reform law?s changes designed to create financial rewards for doctors and hospitals to provide better care....
- Kentucky Center Helps More Than 1,000 Providers Get Electronic Health Records
The Kentucky Regional Extension Center has helped more than 1,000 health care providers transition to electronic health records, with specialists advising providers so they can meet the federal standards of "Meaningful Use." "Quick access to electronic...
- Switch To Electronic Medical Records Not Without Concerns
Though touted as a way to improve patient care and supported by federal funding, Kentucky physicians have concerns about switching to electronic medical records. Doctors are worried about cost, lost productivity, the possibility that the technology becomes...
- Electronic Health Records Are The New Frontier In Health Care
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News Just two years ago, the acronym EHR didn't mean much to many people. But since Congress passed the health-care reform law last year, physicians and hospitals have become intimately acquainted with it ? and patients...
- Acos: Health Care?s Big Project
Medicare beneficiaries who are patients of 32 groups of health care providers have started to receive letters informing them that they are now patients of an Accountable Care Organization, or ACO. ACOs are the focus of a new Medicare demonstration project...