OCR Levies More Than $5 Million in HIPAA Fines in One Week

Source: HCPro HIM

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a total of $5.45 million in HIPAA settlement fines last week. Although the specific details of each HIPAA violation differed, each began when the organizations reported laptop thefts and subsequent OCR investigations revealed widespread disregard of basic HIPAA requirements.

Studies Show More Patients Favor Email Exchanges With Physicians

Source: Physician Practice Perspectives

Email exchanges with patients can make a practice more efficient, and online medical service codes allow physicians to bill patients for some types of email exchanges.

'Look-back' Rule Change Creates Challenges for Providers

Source: HealthLeaders Media

A final rule change issued last month by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could have a significant impact on how physician practices address billing and coding errors dating back six years.

Daily Q&A

Q&A: Finding Pressure Sores Present on Admission

Source: ACDIS

We are having trouble determining how to assign a code for a pressure ulcer that begins as a Stage I concern that is present on admission but advances during the patient’s stay to a Stage II or a Stage III.

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