Anne Foster

There’s a Code for That: Counting Down to ICD-10 and a Poem to Help You Remember!

By Anne Foster on April 9, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: We originally published this article to our Health Law Update Blog prior to Congress extending the ICD-10 compliance deadline. Therefore, we have revised our language to indicate that changes to coding are coming in the fall 2015, not 2014. ————————————————————– ~We wrote down this poem, To help you recall, That changes are coming … Continue Reading

There’s a Code for That: Counting Down to ICD-10 and a Poem to Help You Remember!

By Anne Foster on March 25, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

————————————————————– ~We wrote down this poem, To help you recall, That changes are coming To coding this fall.~ ————————————————————– On October 1, 2014, all HIPAA-covered persons and entities must be compliant with the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS, respectively). Despite numerous extensions of this compliance date (which was … Continue Reading

FTC Settles Case With Medical Transcription Company

By Anne Foster on March 17, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it had settled its data privacy case against medical transcription firm GMR Transcription Services, Inc. (GMR) following allegations that GMR had failed to adequately protect the personal information of its consumers. The consent order signed by the parties is a particularly notable milestone in that it marks … Continue Reading

CMS Announces Changes to RAC Program; Temporary Pause in Document Requests

By B. Scott McBride and Anne Foster on March 7, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published an announcement indicating that the agency is “in the procurement process for the next round of Recovery Audit Program Contracts” and is winding down its current contracts to enable Recovery Auditors to complete all outstanding claim reviews and other processes by the end date of existing … Continue Reading

NICS and HIPAA: Where Mental Health Privacy and Gun Control Overlap

By Lynn Sessions and Anne Foster on February 3, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. HHS Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking On January 7, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the purpose of modifying the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to expressly permit certain … Continue Reading

Healthcare Privacy – 2013 Year in Review

By Lynn Sessions, Kimberly M. Wong, Cory J. Fox and Anne Foster on January 2, 2014 Posted in Uncategorized

Editor’s Note: This post is a joint submission with BakerHostetler’s Data Privacy Monitor blog. On January 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published the long-awaited HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule (Final Rule), which includes the most sweeping changes to HIPAA since the Privacy and Security Rules were released. … Continue Reading

Court Overturns Presuit Patient Authorization Requirement Under Florida Medical Malpractice Statute

By Lynn Sessions and Anne Foster on October 17, 2013 Posted in Uncategorized

On September 25, 2013, the Northern District Court of Florida, Tallahassee Division, ruled that Florida Statute § 766.1065 violated HIPAA by requiring a plaintiff in a medical malpractice action to deliver a presuit authorization allowing the defending parties to conduct ex parte interviews of plaintiff’s other healthcare providers. Finding that HIPAA does not “otherwise permit … Continue Reading