As expected, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced late Thursday that Oct. 1, 2015, will indeed be the new transition date for the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) coding system in healthcare claims — a date stakeholders have urged it to settle on for months.

When computers or data-storage media with protected personal health information on them go missing, healthcare providers don’t just face the threat of federal fines and patient class action suits. Individual states also can sue if their residents were impacted.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) has joined other leading organizations, including the American Medical Association, in writing to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to ask for even more flexibility in how eligible providers can meet Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for electronic health record technology under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

July decisions by courts in California and Illinois place limits on patient class-action suits when thieves steal computers containing protected personal health data.

A study appearing in the latest issue of Health Affairs finds no evidence that hospitals are using new electronic health records (EHRs) to increase Medicare reimbursements.

Exactly how ready is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to begin processing International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, (ICD-10) coded claims now, and how much more does it need to do before October 1, 2015, the mandatory implementation deadline? Six of Congress’ most powerful legislators are demanding to know.

The Meaningful Use attestation hardship exemption deadline passed on July 1 without any moves by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to extend the date for when eligible providers can file for an exemption, despite the pleas of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Falls Church, Virgina-based health information technology (IT) company CSC has announced that it will team with electronic health record (EHR) developer Allscripts and technology giant HP to make a grab for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Healthcare Management System Modernization (DHMSM) contract that may end up being worth billions.