Hospitals markedly improved their compliance with price transparency regulations in 2023, according to a new report. It found that more than 90% of hospitals have posted a machine-readable file containing gross charges, negotiated charges and cash prices for the services and items they provide.
WebMD Ignite — the company’s division that offers tech solutions to providers and health plans — teamed up with healthcare privacy platform Freshpaint. Through the partnership, WebMD Ignite is seeking to help its customers — which include organizations such as Providence, Trinity Health, Advocate Aurora, VillageMD and Centene — use web tracking technology to grow their businesses while staying clear of data privacy risks.
CMS has fined two hospitals in September for alleged violations of its price transparency rule. This marks the third month in a row that the agency has issued fines against hospitals for price transparency noncompliance, following a yearslong period of light enforcement.
The federal government has warned hospitals that using third-party analytics tools on their websites could violate HIPAA, and more than 20 hospitals are facing class-action lawsuits over the use of these tools. But a recent analysis found that hospitals are doing a poor job of fixing their websites and preventing patient data collection.
About 36% of U.S. hospitals are in compliance with CMS' price transparency rule, up from 24.5% in February, according to a new report. This progress will remain slow unless CMS can do a better job of effectively enforcing its rule, the report declared.
CMS recently fined two hospitals for alleged violations of its price transparency rule. These fines are only the third and fourth penalties issued by the agency since the rule took effect on January 1, 2021. These fines may become more common — CMS also announced that it is updating its enforcement process for the rule.
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
By evaluating the potential of healthcare operations software investments to affect each of these three key outcomes areas — patient outcomes, workforce outcomes, and risk and compliance outcomes — CIOs can make informed decisions that drive value and improve outcomes for patients, providers, and the entire organization.
Medtech companies should be particularly mindful of the following legal and regulatory compliance issues. This is especially true for companies transitioning to data-based services.
Medtech companies should have a team of FDA advisors at the ready to develop and implement pre- and post-market strategies, prevent and resolve pre- or post-market issues and guide lifecycle management
The life sciences industry is more quickly adapting to new methods, standards and requirements. The focus is now on how to drive greater data governance and quality through a unified framework. The challenge comes in instituting a framework that will meet regulatory and labeling requirements.
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
A CMS rule, which went into effect December 31, requires that providers publish up-to-date digital contact information regarding their compliance, using approved methods. Noncompliant hospitals will be publicly listed, akin to the Office of Civil Rights’ breach notification portal, the so-called “Wall of Shame.”
The hospitals that were found to be fully compliant with the federal price transparency rule had a few strategies in common, including picking the right technology partner and beginning their efforts early — in some cases before the rule was even proposed.
CMS' latest proposed rule, which includes stringent penalties for hospitals that are found to be flouting the price transparency rule, comes on the heels of an analysis showing that a vast majority of hospitals are not in compliance with the regulation that went into effect on Jan. 1.
Despite a 20-year head start, providers still fall short of HIPAA requirements around fulfilling patient requests for their medical records. In light of the federal information blocking rules, providers should first examine their compliance with HIPAA and then address the new demands imposed by the recently enacted regulations.
The federal price transparency rule for hospitals went into effect Jan. 1, but a new analysis shows that a majority of providers studied were "unambiguously noncompliant."
