General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPost removed
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Elderly patients sick over losing doctors under ObamaCare
By Carl Campanile
October 25, 2013 | 4:18am
ObamaCare is making seniors sick.
Elderly New Yorkers are in a panic after getting notices that insurance companies are booting their doctors from the Medicare Advantage program as a result of the shifting medical landscape under ObamaCare.
That leaves patients with unenviable choices: keep the same insurance plan and find another doctor, pay out of pocket or look for another plan where their physician is a member.
New York State Medical Society President Sam Unterricht is demanding a congressional probe after learning that one health carrier alone, UnitedHealthcare, is terminating contracts with up to 2,100 doctors serving 8,000 Medicare Advantage patients in the New York metro region...
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Thousands of CT doctors fired by United HealthCare
By Jocelyn Maminta
Published: Thursday, October 10, 2013, 6:27 PM EDT
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)go back to traditional Medicare.
I know Medicare Advantage plans usually include some incentives, not available under traditional Medicare, but it depends on your needs. If you want to keep your doctor, find an Advantage Plan (or hospital/physician Accountable Care Organization) that includes your physician in network, or go to traditional Medicare with a supplemental policy.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)virgogal
(10,178 posts)it is not going to change.
I sure as hell can't pay cash.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2013
New rule protects patient privacy, secures health information
[center]Enhanced standards improve privacy protections and security safeguards for consumer health data[/center]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) moved forward today to strengthen the privacy and security protections for health information established under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The final omnibus rule greatly enhances a patients privacy protections, provides individuals new rights to their health information, and strengthens the governments ability to enforce the law.
Much has changed in health care since HIPAA was enacted over fifteen years ago, said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The new rule will help protect patient privacy and safeguard patients health information in an ever expanding digital age.
The changes in the final rulemaking provide the public with increased protection and control of personal health information. The HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules have focused on health care providers, health plans and other entities that process health insurance claims. The changes announced today expand many of the requirements to business associates of these entities that receive protected health information, such as contractors and subcontractors. Some of the largest breaches reported to HHS have involved business associates. Penalties are increased for noncompliance based on the level of negligence with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per violation. The changes also strengthen the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Breach Notification requirements by clarifying when breaches of unsecured hea lth information must be reported to HHS.
Individual rights are expanded in important ways. Patients can ask for a copy of their electronic medical record in an electronic form. When individuals pay by cash they can instruct their provider not to share information about their treatment with their health plan. The final omnibus rule sets new limits on how information is used and disclosed for marketing and fundraising purposes and prohibits the sale of an individuals health information without their permission.
This final omnibus rule marks the most sweeping changes to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules since they were first implemented, said HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Leon Rodriguez. These changes not only greatly enhance a patients privacy rights and protections, but also strengthen the ability of my office to vigorously enforce the HIPAA privacy and security protections, regardless of whether the information is being held by a health plan, a health care provider, or one of their business associates.
The final rule also reduces burden by streamlining individuals ability to authorize the use of their health information for research purposes. The rule makes it easier for parents and others to give permission to share proof of a childs immunization with a school and gives covered entities and business associates up to one year after the 180-day compliance date to modify contracts to comply with the rule.
The final omnibus rule is based on statutory changes under the HITECH Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) which clarifies that genetic information is protected under the HIPAA Privacy Rule and prohibits most health plans from using or disclosing genetic information for underwriting purposes.
The Rulemaking announced today may be viewed in the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection.
Sign up to OCRs listserv and stay informed at OCR-PRIVACY-LIST
pinto
(106,886 posts)1. HIPPA, the Health Portability and Accountability Act, enacted in 1996 requires the establishment of Electronic Health Records. It also establishes permitted uses, confidentiality and data protection standards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA
2. Medicare / Medicaid EHR incentives / penalties -
EHR Incentive Payment Timeline
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) authorizes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to award incentive payments to eligible professionals who demonstrate Meaningful Use of a certified electronic health record (EHR).
It pays to get started early! Providers must participate early in 2011 or 2012 in order to receive the maximum incentive.
These incentive programs will not always be available, and financial penalties are scheduled to take effect in 2015 for Medicare and Medicaid providers who do not transition to EHRs.
The table below provides an overview of the EHR incentive payment timeline for eligible health care professionals.
http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/ehr-incentive-payment-timeline
Neither are due to the ACA. Nice try Ms. McCaughey.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)There are perhaps few people who have been as dogged as Betsy McCaughey in trying to ensure Americans continue to receive crappy, overpriced health care. Her attacks on Clinton-era health care proposals were specious enough to (eventually) be repudiated by the magazine that published them; her more recent "death panel" invention caught the ear of the stupid-minded from Sarah Palin on down. She has made a nice little career conspiracy theorizing about any attempt to reform the nation's health care practices, and if there is any consolation to be had in her repeated wrongness it is that she at least has been reduced to peddling her crackpot theories in the sewer-like pages of the New York Post. So let us hear what the new McCaughey-invented Bat Boy will be.
...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/16/1239282/-Betsy-McCaughey-back-with-exciting-new-Obamacare-theories
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Instead of digging up RW spin, you could do some research of your own. You would find that these are RW lies.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)...Where are the womens rights groups that went to the barricades in the 1980s and 1990s to prevent the federal government from accessing a womans health records? Hypocritically, they are silent now.
It's not TEAM BLUE vs TEAM RED.
pinto
(106,886 posts)proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Christina Sandefur, a lawyer for the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based conservative think tank challenging the Affordable Care Act in federal court, said the arrangement is a violation of patients privacy rights.
Once youve shared your information with a private third party, the Supreme Court has ruled that is fair game for the government, she told Watchdog.org...
You may "knowingly expose" a lot more than you really know or intend. Most information a third party collects such as your insurance records, credit records, bank records, travel records, library records, phone records and even the records your grocery store keeps when you use your "loyalty" card to get discounts was given freely to them by you, and is probably not protected by the Fourth Amendment under current law. There may be privacy statutes that protect against the sharing of information about you some communications records receive special legal protection, for example but there is likely no constitutional protection, and it is often very easy for the government to get a hold of these third party records without your ever being notified.
pinto
(106,886 posts)I suggest you look beyond the Goldwater Institute. The link I gave you to HIPPA overview (Wiki) is a good start. There are references there for follow up. The limits on sharing health info as well as security standards for EHR are detailed in the Act.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)for you to explore:
* Republican lawmakers on the committee said the website cost $634 million, which isnt true.
* Republican lawmakers on the committee said White House political interference caused the tech problems plaguing the site, which isnt true.
* Republican lawmakers on the committee said inactive code on the website violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which isnt true.
* Republican lawmakers on the committee said the individual mandate is being delayed, which isnt true.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/full-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing
See each link at "which isn't true" in the original.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)But it gets worse. Ms. McCaughey further misrepresents what the law does:
Embarrassing though it may be, you confide things to a doctor you wouldn't tell anyone else. But this is entirely different.
Doctors and hospitals who don't comply with the federal government's electronic-health-records requirements forgo incentive payments now; starting in 2015, they'll face financial penalties from Medicare and Medicaid. The Department of Health and Human Services has already paid out over $12.7 billion for these incentives.
There are federal EHR requirements. But those are part of the HITECH Act (which was part of ARRA), not Obamacare. What Obamacareintroduces is that insurance must now reimburse physicians for preventive services. These include things like STI counseling (which is why more docs may ask about sex). They also include lots of other stuff, especially for women and children. I'm fine with this, because these things work. They have evidence behind them. That's why they're in there. For years, we've paid for tons of things that don't work, while not paying for things that do. This tries to right that balance. { The Incidental Economist, 9/16/13 }
Please stop spreading right wing claptrap --