Featured Report:Fiscal cliff deal may spell bad news for diabetes patients on Medicare

Med City News
Jan,03,2013
by: Arundhati Parmar
A health policy expert with medical device trade association and lobby group AdvaMed worries that diabetes patients on Medicare may have gotten a bad deal with the recently passed fiscal cliff bill. The bill tackles the issue of how Medicare pays for diabetes supplies such as testing strips. Under the terms of Medicare Modernization Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have been developing a competitive bidding program to pay for many products including durable medical equipment and that includes diabetes testing strips. The competitive bidding program is under way in nine areas of the country.
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This Week's Healthcare News
Healthcare Info Security
Cloud Computing: Security a Hurdle
Jan,04,2013
by: Marianne Kolbasuk McGee,
While cloud computing can often provide cost-effective and convenient ways for healthcare organizations to store and share data and diagnostic images, two CISOs and a privacy advocate caution that security concerns are substantial. At a recent conference, the CISOs spelled out their concerns, ranging from difficulty enforcing strong business associate agreements with cloud providers to vendors' lack of openness about the robustness of their security measures.
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iHealthbeat
HHS Announces First Settlement From Small Health Data Breach
Jan,03,2013
by: Staff
On Wednesday, HHS announced that Hospice of North Idaho has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations after an unencrypted laptop containing electronic health information on 441 patients was stolen in 2010, Becker's Hospital Review reports.

First HHS Settlement Stemming From Small Data Breach
The agreement marks HHS' first settlement resulting from a data breach affecting fewer than 500 people. Health data breaches that affect 500 or more individuals must be reported to HHS and the media within 60 days of discovering the incident. Breaches affecting fewer than 500 individuals must be reported to HHS annually.
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Modern Physician.com
Clock still ticking on overdue Sunshine Act rule
Jan,03, 2013
by:Jaimy Lee
The CMS missed its own 2012 deadline to issue the final rule for a regulation that aims to make financial relationships between healthcare providers and manufacturers more transparent. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act—a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—requires drug and device companies to report payments or gifts given to physicians and teaching hospitals. It also mandates that manufacturers and group purchasing organizations disclose physician ownership and investment interests. However, multiple delays in the rulemaking process mean that data collection is not likely to begin until well into this year and that the data will not be publicly available until 2014. The original statute called for draft regulations on data reporting and collection to be issued in October 2011, for data collection to begin in January 2012 and for data to be made public starting in 2013.
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Small Business Healthcare Consortium

Hello Small Business Owners,
I am writing to you because our changing health care system will have a profound effect on all of us. Now that the election is over and the Supreme Court has ruled, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not going away. It will not be repealed and it is up to us to make sure it will work for small businesses and individuals as it was intended to do. That’s why I joined the Campaign for Better Health Care’s newly created Small Business Health Care Consortium (SBHCC).

This consortium views the needs of small businesses and their employees as a top priority. And, as a member of the Steering Committee of the SBHCC, I am personally inviting you and asking you to invite your network of small businesses to participate in a one hour, educational free webinar about the Affordable Care Act on January 15th at 11:00am CST or January 16th at 3:30pm CST. Discussions around health reform have been confusing and, sometimes, even misleading. It is the goal of this free webinar to provide factual information about the changes that are already happening and those coming in the near future. It will discuss the benefits and opportunities of the ACA and what Illinois small businesses need to do to make sure this law will benefit them.

Follow this link to register for:
January 15th: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=ecg0qj9s21aq

January 16th: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=m2wt2unotbju

Many key components of the ACA are national in nature. For instance, small businesses currently providing health insurance to their employees could be eligible for a 35% tax credit. And, while employers with fewer than 50 full time employees are not required to provide health insurance, their employees can take advantage of the ACA’s benefits. Other components will be implemented at the State level and these decisions will either enhance small businesses or provide another hurdle. One important component is that all states must implement a health insurance exchange (marketplace). These exchanges will include a rate review process with defined, easy to understand plans to consider and review side-by-side. As small business owners we share many of the same, serious business challenges. It is my hope that you and your small business peers do want to learn more about the ACA. Let’s take this opportunity to act collectively to get control of health insurance costs and improve access to coverage.

The opportunity to create positive change is now. It is about fairness and choices for small businesses. Please register:
January 15th, 11am CST:
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=ecg0qj9s21aq
January 16th, 3:30pm CST:
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=m2wt2unotbju

And, do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas. Reach me at 312-286-8416 email wireheadtec@gmail.com or Wirehead Technology Healthcare IT Serives at www.wireheadtec.com/Home.html Find a listing of our SBHCC Steering Committee members at: www.cbhconline.org/smallbusiness .

Sincerely,
Howard Lee CIO
Wirehead Technology

If you need answers to your Healthcare IT needs now visit our Healthcare Managed Services page at Wirehead Technology