On April 15, 2020 the Office of Inspector General released the results of its audit of the South Carolina Medicaid fee-for-service telemedicine program. The results were staggering. The OIG determined 97% of the payments for telemedicine were unallowable, primarily for lack of proper documentation. Of the 97%, only 2% were unallowable because they were billed…
For years hospitals and physicians have utilized third parties to manage their medical records and respond to requests for copies from patients, attorneys, insurance companies, etc. I will admit, at times it seemed like the charge imposed for obtaining copies of medical records hedged on outrageous. These companies made a great deal of money managing…
On November 27, 2019 the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a press release detailing a settlement agreement with Sentara Hospitals (Sentara) in the amount of $2.175 million. The matter that was the basis for the settlement started somewhat innocently when Sentara accidentally sent a bill to someone that contained the protected health information of…
On November 5, 2019 the Office of Civil Rights announced a settlement with the University of Rochester Medical Center where URMC agreed to pay $3 Million Dollars to the OCR and take “substantial corrective action” to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). It was alleged the actions of URMC…