Is your license renewing in September or October? Renew early to avoid delays with new online licensing system The Medical Board of California is asking physicians that need to renew their medical licenses during September and October to do so early due to a planned disruption. According to the medical board, the Department of Consumer Affairs will transition to a new online licensing and enforcement system in mid-September 2013 and during this transition there could be disruptions in cashiering and other services. The disruption will affect both online and mail renewals. To avoid any possible lapse in licensure due to processing delays, physicians whose licenses are set to ... August 22, 2013 General Medical Board of California, Licensure 0 0 Comment Read More »
Are you ready for the next HIPAA compliance deadline? The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released new regulations in January 2013 that made important changes to the privacy and security requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These new regulations, known as the HIPAA Omnibus Rule, implement many of the provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Covered entities have until September 23 to comply with these changes. Physician offices will, at minimum, need to review and update their business associate agreements, office privacy and security policies and ... August 22, 2013 General Health Information Technology, HIPAA 0 0 Comment Read More »
Federal regulations bring delays to ACA milestones Deadlines and milestones relating to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are beginning to slide, as the federal government gets a better picture of how capable it will be of implementing the massive changes called for in the law. In July, the federal government announced that the penalty on employers for not providing employees health insurance would be delayed until 2015, while also scaling back income verification requirements that would have been used to determine subsidy levels for individuals purchasing coverage through the new insurance marketplaces. The income verification announcement, which came ... August 19, 2013 General Affordable Care Act, Covered California, Health Care Reform 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA, CMA Foundation partner for exchange's provider education grant program The California Medical Association (CMA) and the CMA Foundation have submitted a joint application to Covered California, the state’s health benefit exchange, for a portion of the $3 million set to be awarded as part of its provider education grant program. The program is expected to award grants to between three and six statewide organizations that will be responsible for educating health care providers about Covered California and how the exchange will operate come January 2014. CMA's application was submitted jointly with the Latino Physicians of California and the American ... August 19, 2013 General CMA Foundation, Covered California, Health Insurance Exchange, Health Care Reform 0 0 Comment Read More »
Plan departures leave questions for California policy holders While much attention has been given to the successful signing of health plans participating in Covered California’s new online insurance marketplace, it’s worth noting that some major players in the state’s current insurance market are refusing to play ball. In June, both United Healthcare and Aetna announced that they would not be participating in California’s individual market following the end of 2013. In announcing their departures, both companies noted that only a small portion of their overall business was conducted in California, and given the coming changes promised through the ... August 19, 2013 General Covered California, United Healthcare, Aetna, Health Care Reform 0 0 Comment Read More »
DHCS to implement 10 percent Medi-Cal cuts in January 2014 The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) today announced that it would begin to implement the 10 percent Medi-Cal physician payment rate reduction on October 1, 2013, for Medi-Cal managed care and on January 9, 2014, for fee for service. DHCS also announced that it would be retroactively implementing the cuts for FFS providers to June 1, 2011, when the law authorizing the cuts went into effect. DHCS said it will recoup a percentage of provider payments to recover overpaid funds during the retroactive period. These retroactive payment recoveries will ... August 15, 2013 Medi-Cal Advocacy, Insurance/Reimbursement, Medi-Cal, Access to Care 0 0 Comment Read More »
State delays duals pilot project until April 1 The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced today that it would delay by three months implementation of the state's "pilot project" to redesign care for Medicare/Medi-Cal dual eligibles. The program, called CalMediConnect, is now expected to begin no earlier than April 2014. The project was authorized by the Assembly in July 2012 in an effort to save money and better coordinate care for the state’s low-income seniors and persons with disabilities. The program begins with a three-year demonstration project that would see a large portion of the state's ... August 15, 2013 Managed Care, Medi-Cal, Medicare DHCS, Medi-Cal, Medicare, Dual Eligible, Insurance/Reimbursement 0 0 Comment Read More »
Medical board to suspend licenses of physicians with delinquent taxes The Medical Board of California will soon be sending notices to physicians who have outstanding tax obligations, warning that their medical licenses may be suspended if they do not pay their tax obligation or enter into a payment plan within 90 days. A new state law, passed in 2011, authorizes the medical board to deny an application for licensure and to suspend the license of any licensee who has outstanding tax obligations due to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) or the State Board of Equalization (BOE) and appears on either ... August 14, 2013 General Professional Development and Licensure, Tax, Medical Board of California 0 0 Comment Read More »
Dangerous bill putting patients in harm's way barely passes Assembly Committee Sacramento – After an initial vote held SB 491 (Hernandez) in the Assembly Business, Professions & Consumer Protection Committee last week, a reconsideration vote was granted and today the bill moved out of committee. SB 492 (Hernandez), a related bill dealing with expanded scope of practice for optometrists, was held in committee. On behalf of the California Medical Association (CMA) and the Coalition for Patient Access and Quality Care, CMA President Paul R. Phinney, M.D., issued the following statement: “While SB 492 was held in committee, patients should be deeply ... August 14, 2013 General Advocacy, Nurse Practitioners, Scope of Practice 0 0 Comment Read More »
IMQ Launches Online CME Member Benefit The California Medical Association’s Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) has launched IMQ Online Education, a new source of continuing medical education. IMQ Online Education offers physicians a growing selection of courses, including many needed to maintain licensure, accessible at any time and from any internet-enabled device. Members receive discounted rates on the entire catalog of online CME. IMQ Online Education offers access to a diverse catalog of courses in a variety of formats, lengths and credit levels, organized by subject category for easy browsing. The system is convenient: start a ... August 13, 2013 General CME, IMQ, Institute for Medical Quality 0 0 Comment Read More »
