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Heeding concerns raised by the AHA and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering \(ASHE\), the Federal Communications Commission \(FCC\) extended the freeze on the licensing of high-powered private land mobile radio service users in the 460-470 MHz band until December 31, 2005.
In June, a group of plaintiffs' lawyers began filing class-action suits in several states against not-for-profit hospitals and health systems, alleging a tie between the hospitals' tax-exempt status and their handling of billing and collections for the uninsured. We believe the cases are baseless,…
The recently enacted Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 \(MMA\) requires all public hospitals to comply by July 1, 2004 with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's \(OSHA\) Bloodborne Pathogens Standard as part of their Medicare provider agreement. The standard's goal is to protect…
On May 7, CMS published the long-awaited final 75% Rule, which sets conditions an inpatient rehabilitation facility \(IRF\) must meet to qualify for reimbursement as an IRF under Medicare. The rule maintains nine of the original ")HCFA 10") qualifying diagnoses and replaces the old polyarthritis…
CMS published in the May 18 Federal Register a proposed rule with changes to the fiscal year \(FY\) 2005 hospital inpatient prospective payment system \(PPS\). This rule is one of the most complicated and lengthy ever released by the agency.
The Centers for Medicare…