Florida Board of Medicine Set to Tackle Telemedicine Issue

laptop doctor

Florida laws that pertain to telemedicine are precious few.  In fact, there is really only one regulation dead on target, and that requires face to face physician contact with a patient in order to write a prescription.  The impact of the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) providers was pretty immediate, but the legal issues related to telemedicine are just not currently addressed in Florida law.  Does providing a telemedicine consult create a physician patient relationship?  What are the requirements related to the medical records arising out of the consult, and who owns the records?  These issues and many more are simply not handled.  And yet, if it is true that telemedicine will be an important tool in the effort to both broaden the availability of care while reducing associated costs, we can be sure that Florida law will evolve on these issues.Continue reading

The Florida Healthcare Law Firm Goes National

Followers & Friends – BIG Announcement coming out today! If you haven’t seen our new NATIONAL platform, check it out here at www.nationalhealthcarelawfirm.com and stay tuned for our #healthcare #legal news at 2pm EST !!!

Supreme Court upholds Obama health care law

Via @USAToday

The Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health care law today in a splintered, complex opinion that gives Obama a major election-year victory.

Basically. the justices said that the individual mandate — the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine — is constitutional as a tax.

Chief Justice John Roberts — a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush — provided the key vote to preserve the landmark health care law, which figures to be a major issue in Obama’s re-election bid against Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

The government had argued that Congress had the authority to pass the individual mandate as part of its power to regulate interstate commerce; the court disagreed with that analysis, but preserved the mandate because the fine amounts to a tax that is within Congress’ constitutional taxing powers.

The announcement will have a major impact on the nation’s health care system, the actions of both federal and state governments, and the course of the November presidential and congressional elections.

A key question for the high court: The law’s individual mandate, the requirement that nearly all Americans buy health insurance, or pay a penalty.

Critics call the requirement an unconstitutional overreach by Congress and the Obama administration; supporters say it is necessary to finance the health care plan, and well within the government’s powers under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

While the individual mandate remained 18 months away from implementation, many other provisions already have gone into effect, such as free wellness exams for seniors and allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies. Some of those provisions are likely to be retained by some insurance companies.

Other impacts will sort themselves out, once the court rules:

— Health care millions of Americans will be affected – coverage for some, premiums for others. Doctors, hospitals, drug makers, insurers, and employers large and small all will feel the impact.

— States — some of which have moved ahead with the health care overhaul while others have held back — now have decisions to make. A deeply divided Congress could decide to re-enter the debate with legislation.

— The presidential race between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is sure to feel the repercussions. Obama’s health care law has proven to be slightly more unpopular than popular among Americans.

Full Story Here: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/Supreme-Court-rules-on-Obama-health-care-plan-718037/1#.T-xqPhd5F9E

June 30th Deadline to e-Prescribe to Avoid Medicare Adjustment Penalty

June 30, 2012 is the deadline for submitting ten (10) Part B Fee for Service (FFS) claims to Medicare to avoid the 2013 Adjustment (penalty) of 1.5% against 2013 reimbursements.

Exception: if a provider submitted 25 e-prescribing events successfully in 2011, they have already met the reporting requirement to avoid the 2013 penalty. Otherwise, this upcoming June 30, 2012 deadline will apply. If you’ve started e-prescribing and are continuing to do so, do not stop at just 10 for this year to avoid the reduced reimbursement for 2013. This should be continually noted on all Medicare claims regardless to avoid any future penalties into the coming years as they will continue to require this as there will be a 2% reduction for year 2014 as well.

The Florida Healthcare Law Firm Announces National Expansion

(Delray Beach, FL) June 21st, 2012 – The Florida Healthcare Law Firm, one of Florida’s leading healthcare law firms, today announced a major increase in their legal practice capabilities with the official launch of the National Healthcare Law Firm, a d/b/a and new portal of the firm. The expansion to a national platform providing healthcare legal services to physicians and healthcare businesses is one that significantly increases resources for clients who lack qualified local healthcare counsel. While the Florida Healthcare Law Firm has for years assisted clients outside the state of Florida*, this new development further cements the firm’s commitment to providing ethical legal counsel in the healthcare industry.

“We are very excited about it. The fact that we serve clients all over the country has been a small secret for a while but we realized there’s a huge demand and decided to just go for it,” said Jeffrey L. Cohen, Esq. Founder and President of Florida Healthcare Law Firm.

According to Cohen, “It’s just a strange area of the law.  Nearly everything in healthcare business is regulated; leases, employment agreements, compensation.  Things you wouldn’t think are regulated are strongly regulated.  And there are large fines and criminal penalties for getting it wrong!  Our clients understand that healthcare business of any kind has serious legal risks and that they need uniquely qualified help.”

To request a service list or for any other firm information, call Autumn Piccolo at 888-455-7702 or visit the firm’s website at www.nationalhealthcarelawfirm.com or www.floridahealthcarelawfirm.com

*     *     *

Acknowledged throughout the country for its service and excellence, Florida Healthcare Law Firm is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare legal services. Founded by Jeffrey L. Cohen, Esq and headquartered in South Florida, FHLF provides legal services to physicians and healthcare businesses with the right pricing responsiveness and ethics. From healthcare clinic regulation, home health agency representation and physician contracting to medical practice formation/representation and federal and state compliance matters, the Florida Healthcare Law Firm is committed to bringing knowledge and experience to a diverse group of clients.

Pain Management Regulations Affect More Than Pain Management Specialists

The recently passed House Bill 7095 affects more than just pain management specialists.  Practitioners who prescribe controlled substances for individuals with “chronic nonmalignant pain” also are required to comply with new state regulations, including designation “as a controlled substance prescribing practitioner on the physician’s practitioner profile”“with the state Board of Medicine by January 1, 2012. What follows is a bulleted summary of the new regulations.

Prescription s for controlled substances must be either written or electronic.  Telephone prescriptions no longer are allowed.

Written Prescriptions for Controlled Substances

  • Must have quantity in textual and numerical format
  • Must be dated with the abbreviated month written out
  • Must be written on a standardized counterfeit-proof prescription pad produced by a DOH approved vendor

Physicians who prescribe any controlled substance for the treatment of “chronic nonmalignant pain” must designate him or herself as a controlled substance prescribing physician on the physician’s practitioner profile and must comply with statutory requirements and applicable board rulesContinue reading

CMS Issues Final Rule on E-Prescribing

By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: September 06, 2011 WASHINGTON — Doctors now have an extra month to apply for a hardship waiver to avoid being penalized for not adopting electronic prescribing in their practices, according to a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Physicians who use a qualified e-prescribing system are eligible for an additional 1% in Medicare Part B payments in 2011 and 2012, and a 0.5% increase in 2013. Providers who fail to complete at least 10 paperless prescriptions using a qualified e-prescribing system between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2011, will receive a 1% cut in Medicare reimbursements in 2012, a 1.5% cut in 2013, and a 2% cut in 2014.

In a proposed rule from May, CMS said doctors who are unable to e-prescribe should apply for a “hardship exemption” before Oct. 1. In the final rule issued Sept. 1, CMS announced doctors now have until Nov. 1 to apply for an exemption.

Continue reading

Florida Lifts Prescription Drug State of Emergency

via Florida Tribune 8-29-11

Just days before a new drug database is set to start operation, the state of Florida announced that it was lifting the statewide public health emergency it declared due to Florida’s prescription drug crisis.

State officials first declared the emergency back in early July and then swept through clinics across the state for inspections that yielded in the seizure of hundreds of thousands of prescription drugs.

“While the statewide public health declaration may no longer be in effect, the efforts of the Florida Department of Health, law enforcement partners and other state agencies remain strong,” said Gov. Rick Scott in a statement.

Scott had set up a task force to go after pain clinics back in March. Scott initially was opposed to keeping intact the proposed drug database – which is meant to track prescriptions issued by doctors for drugs such as OxyContin, Valium and Xanax.

But Scott, lawmakers and Attorney General Pam Bondi reached a compromise that kept the database which is scheduled to become operational this Thursday. A bill passed this past session also requires physicians to submit their prescription information within seven days.

Dr. Frank Farmer, the Department of Health secretary, also announced along with lifting the state of emergency he was also lifting a moratorium on a part of HB 7095 that had been put on hold.

Two months ago Farmer put on hold a requirement that as many as 50,000 Florida-licensed physicians use counterfeit-resistant prescription pads. The move was taken in the wake of phone calls from patients and doctors saying that pharmacies around the state had begun to refuse to fill prescriptions for controlled substances because the prescriptions were not written on the approved pads.

“Allowing the practitioners who are approved to prescribe controlled substances more time to order the prescription pads was necessary to ensure public safety over the long term,” Farmer said. “Now is the time to start using them.”

Avoiding the 2012 eRx Payment Adjustment

Via www.pbcms.org

An eligible professional can avoid the 2012 eRx Payment Adjustment if he or she: Is not a physician (MD, DO, or podiatrist), Nurse Practitioner, or Physician Assistant as of June 30, 2011, based on primary taxonomy code in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES); Does not have prescribing privileges and reports G-code G8644 (defined as not having prescribing privileges) at least one time on an eligible claim prior to June 30, 2011; Does not have at least 100 cases containing an encounter code in the measure’s denominator; Becomes a successful electronic prescriber (submits required number of electronic prescriptions (10 for individual) via claims and reports this to CMS before June 30, 2011); or Claims a hardship as described below. A group practice that is participating in eRx GPRO I or GPRO II during 2011: MUST become a successful electronic prescriber (submit required number of electronic prescriptions via claims before June 30, 2011); (Depending on the group’s size, the group practice must report the eRx measure for 75-2,500 unique eRx events via claims for patients in the denominator of the measure). If an eligible professional or selected group practice wishes to request an exemption to the eRx Incentive Program and the payment adjustment, there are two “hardship codes” that can be reported via claims if one of the following situations apply: G8642 – The eligible professional practices in a rural area without sufficient high speed internet access and requests a hardship exemption from the application of the payment adjustment under section 1848(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act. G8643 – The eligible professional practices in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for electronic prescribing and requests a hardship exemption from the application of the payment adjustment under section 1848(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act.

For additional information, please visit the “How to Get Started” and “Payment Adjustment Information” sections at http://www.cms.gov/erxincentive on the CMS website.