Competition for the 2016 Nerve-of-a-Burglar Award was fierce, with health care providers constantly coming up with new and different ways to scam Medicare and Medicaid. Nevertheless, we have a clear winner: the Michigan physician charged with an array of fraudulent Medicaid schemes that included ordering …
Unplanned EHR Disruptions–Common for Hospitals
July 28, 2016 Leave a Comment
The prevalence of ransomware attacks is increasing. In fact, “[o]n average, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred daily since January 1, 2016,” according to a recent interagency government report. Given this known threat, contingency planning by hospitals becomes even more important. This …
Nurse’s Age Discrimination Case May Proceed
June 27, 2016 Leave a Comment
A California federal court has rejected a hospital’s motion for summary judgment in a case brought by a former nurse who claims she was fired for being too old. Seventy-year-old Lavon Ramsey had worked at Fairchild Medical Center for 14 years and was rated “commendable range” on her most recent …
Not Everyone Wants to Be on TV
April 22, 2016 Leave a Comment
It turns out that not everyone wants to be on television. New York-Presbyterian found that out the hard way. Back in 2011 the hospital allowed a television camera crew inside treatment areas to record footage for the ABC show “NY Med.” The New York Times quotes a hospital spokesman as saying that the …
Federal Trade Commission Releases New Mobile Health Apps Interactive Tool
April 19, 2016 Leave a Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in conjunction with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the HHS Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and the Food and Drug Administration, have developed a new web-based interactive tool to assist developers of health-related mobile apps identify …
A Recap of National Health IT Week
October 12, 2015 Leave a Comment
National Health IT Week wrapped up on Friday. This may have been the most eventful week in the ten year history of the event, which is organized by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Below are a few of the highlights (each of which could likely carry its own blog post): Stage 3 …