The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of E-Health Standards and Services (OESS) has announced that it will not initiate enforcement action through Jun. 30, 2012 against any covered entity required to comply with the updated transaction standards including Version 5010.

In an email update to providers dated March 23, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided additional information on the Medicare Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program and the 2012 eRx payment adjustment.

The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it will again allow physicians to present their case to be exempted from the 2012 e-prescribing (eRx) penalty program. Contact CMS' Quality Net Help Desk if you have not received a formal notice regarding the final status of an exemption request, or if you believe a mistake led to an eRx penalty.

The Coding page of the AASM website has been expanded to include new frequently asked questions. The FAQs were developed to help members better understand coding, compliance and policy issues related to sleep medicine.

In January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it had delayed enforcement of the required implementation of Version 5010 for 90 days. Though originally providers were expected to be in compliance with Version 5010 by Jan 1, 2012, it was projected that enforcement actions would begin on Apr 1, 2012.

On March 7, Marilyn Tavenner, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a redesign of the claims and benefits statement provided to Medicare beneficiaries. CMS has redesigned the statement as a part of its new initiative called “Your Medicare Information: Clearer, Simpler, At Your Fingertips.”

Join us at the AASM National Office, located in a suburb of Chicago, for a two-day Intermediate Sleep Center Management Course on April 21 and 22. The first day of the course will address accurate billing, issues of fraud and abuse, documentation, and compliance plan development. The second day will highlight mechanisms for expanding your sleep center business such as portable monitoring (OCST), DME, expanding your referral base, optimizing staff and marketing your sleep center. The advanced registration deadline for this course is March 23, so register today!

In an effort to consolidate its compliance-related educational resources, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has developed a new website called Compliance 101.

In a press release dated Feb 24, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule detailing the requirements for stage 2 of the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 established incentives for health care professionals and hospitals that adopt certified electronic health record (EHR) technology and use it in a meaningful way.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) previously announced that eligible professionals who did not become successful electronic prescribers under the 2011 Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program are subject to a payment adjustment in 2012. Please review this Medicare Learning Network article regarding how payment adjustments were calculated. A number of AASM members submitted hardship exemption requests in late 2011. Approval of such a request would exempt the physician from eRx Incentive Program payment adjustments. CMS originally intended to publish a report of providers approved for hardship exemption. However, it was announced in January that such a report was not technically feasible due to the large number of requests received.