News Briefs
News Briefs
Web site will let providers bid on patient care
Seraphim Inc., a health care consulting firm based in Kenosha, WI, has announced the formation of an Internet company and Web site that would allow health care providers to bid on patient care. The site, PatientWise, would allow patients to compare provider quality and cost for proposed treatment of serious illnesses and chronic conditions, officials say.
Bradley Engel, Seraphim president and CEO, says the company would secure more than $100 million in funding to launch the site by the end of the year. "All the care will be included in a single cost that the patient will be able to see immediately, in advance of committing to the care," Engel says. More information is available at www.patientwise.net.
Confidential data loss through e-mail up 170%
More than one out of four employees (27%) surveyed in a new study about personal e-mail use have received confidential company data from outside their company. This figure has nearly tripled from when the first study was conducted one year ago.
The study was commissioned by Elron Soft-ware in Burlington, MA, and was conducted by NFO Interactive, a Greenwich, CT-division of NFO Worldwide. A total of 576 people with desktop Web and e-mail access from work responded to the survey. The study evaluated employee Internet usage throughout the United States from varying types of organizations and job titles.
AHIMA endorses the Privacy Commission Act
The American Health Information Manage-ment Association (AHIMA) in Chicago has endorsed an act that would establish a bipartisan, 17-member privacy protection commission to review all issues pertaining to the protection of an individual’s personal privacy.
The bill, the Privacy Commission Act, HR 4049, was introduced by Reps. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) and Jim Moran (D-VA).
Hutchinson and Moran say the commission would have 18 months to:
• study the current laws relating to the protection of individual privacy and existing efforts addressing this issue;
• conduct hearings around the country to receive comments from the public, business leaders, and the community;
• identify potential threats to individual privacy in the "cyber age" and submit a report to Congress and the president on its findings, including any legislative recommendations for the reform or augmentation of current laws and regulations.
A copy of HR 4049 is available on AHIMA’s Web site at www.ahima.org, following the links "Washington Report" to "Issues and Legislation" and then to "Current Legislation."
Penalties for HIPAA fraud finalized
The Office of Inspector General in Washington, DC, has published new civil monetary penalties for fraud. The fines were established in conjunction with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The final rule codifies new penalties for excluded individuals retaining ownership or control interest in an entity, for upcoding and claims for medically unnecessary services, for offering inducements to beneficiaries, and for false certification of eligibility for home health services.
The final rule increases the penalty from $2,000 to $10,000 per item or service improperly claimed or prohibited practice. The regulations went into effect on April 26, the date of their publication in the Federal Register.
To view the regulations, go to: www.hhs.gov/ oig/new.html.
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