Archive for the ‘Health Care Reform’ Category

The White House and IRS have already delayed and/or modified requirements mandated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and now the law’s grandfathering provision may be altered. Under PPACA, any company that changes its health insurance provider loses its grandfathered status, which would open the company to stricter conditions and regulations–and a potential [...]

The percentage of Americans with employment-based health insurance dipped below 60 percent in 2009, a lot of it attributed to job losses, according to the latest study by the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI). Overall, the percentage of individuals under age 65 with employment-based coverage declined from 61.1 percent in 2008 to 59 percent [...]

Though on Aug. 4 it withdrew its Interim Final Rule regarding HIPAA security breach notifications, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has since clarified on its Web site that the suspended rule of Sept. 23, 2009, remains in effect. "This is a complex issue and the Administration is committed to ensuring that individuals’ [...]

Coming under criticism for allowing covered entities (in this case, those health care providers and others who maintain health records) to police themselves in matters of maintaining the privacy of Protected Health Information (PHI), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has withdrawn its breach rule of September 2009. The already-in-effect interim final rule, [...]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to " help ensure that employees are, in fact, free to participate in safety and health activities," has created a dedicated Web site entitled Whistleblower.gov. While those who wish to file complaints of retaliation for whistleblower acts must still do so in writing, the site provides detailed information and [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this morning (July 8, 2010) held a press conference to announce a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NRPM) concerning the privacy, security and enforcement provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. The proposed modifications would extend parts of the HIPAA Privacy Rule [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 28 published a Final Rule in the Federal Register implementing provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The provisions were dubbed "The Patient’s Bill of Rights" by the agency. This Final Rule takes effect Sept. 23, but it breaks little ground from the [...]

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is tasked with monitoring breaches of private health information (PHI) records, reports that, since implementation of the breach rule earlier this year, the total reported through June 4, 2010, stands at 93, and this is just for breaches affecting 500 or more records. The others with fewer than [...]

Those individuals and public interest groups who favored the single-payer health care option–i.e., "Medicare for All" in one form or another–should be heartened by recent legislation passed in the Vermont legislature that became law without the governor’s signature. The Universal Access to Health Care Act passed into law on May 27 when Governor Jim Douglas, [...]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), headed by David Michaels, is flexing its muscles all around, increasing fines, adding field inspectors, and now strengthening its whistleblower program by adding 25 agents to the 87 it already has. In making the announcement, Michaels lamented the high dismissal rate of whistleblower claims (63 percent) and noted [...]