Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS Wants To Help Alleviate Struggles Of Doctors Who Feel 'Crushed By Layer Upon Layer Of Administrative Burden'
Modern Healthcare: CMS Seeks Fresh Ideas On Reducing Administrative Hassles
Dr. Gary LeRoy had to spend a significant part of a primary-care visit with one of his patients Tuesday hunting for information on his electronic health record about his recent hospitalization and medication use. LeRoy was already over the 20 minutes allotted for the visit, and didn't have time to discuss whether the elderly man was up to date on immunizations. "That's pretty typical, I fight with my EHR, and sometimes I win and sometimes it wins," said LeRoy, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians, who practices at the East Dayton Health Clinic in Ohio. (Meyer, 6/6)
Kaiser Health News: Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors
At least a quarter of a million Medicare beneficiaries may receive bills for as many as five months of premiums they thought they already paid. But they shouldn’t toss the letter in the garbage. It’s not a scam or a mistake.Because of what the Social Security Administration calls “a processing error” that occurred in January, it did not deduct premiums from some seniors’ Social Security checks and it didn’t pay the insurance plans, according to the agency’s “frequently asked questions” page on its website. The problem applies to private drug policies and Medicare Advantage plans that provide both medical and drug coverage and substitute for traditional government-run Medicare. (Jaffe, 6/6/)
Modern Healthcare: Providers, Trade Groups Remain Concerned Over API Privacy
Providers, health plans and trade groups are calling on HHS agencies to slow down a push to put health data in patients' hands via third-party apps, citing privacy and implementation concerns. Patient-facing apps are a key component of the CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's companion interoperability and information-blocking proposals released in February. The rules outline how regulators will require insurers and providers to share medical data with patients. That could include using application programming interfaces that connect electronic health record systems with third-party apps. (Cohen, 6/6)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Lawyers Say 17,000 Georgians Could Lose Medicaid Benefits
The state Department of Community Health said the 17,000 had simply not responded to renewal notices informing them how to continue their coverage. Patients interviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution say they never received renewal notices, and their lawyers say their clients’ Georgia Gateway computer accounts show that no such notices were ever sent. (Hart, 6/6)
