Policies & Guidelines


New Orleans, LA—“We must start to think differently if we want to change the healthcare system,” said Ochsner Health System President and CEO Warner L. Thomas, CPA, MBA, FACHE, in a keynote address at the 2013 Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) annual conference.
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Socioeconomic status and other nonphysiologic factors may be largely responsible for the apparent association between having fathered a child and an increased risk for prostate cancer, Swedish researchers have concluded.
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On January 17, 2013, nearly 3 years after its initial proposed rule, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued the long-awaited and much- anticipated HIPAA “omnibus” rule, extending the scope of the privacy law beyond providers to their business associates and subcontractors and adding increased penalties.
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In this article we address the final payment rules issued on November 1, 2012, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), and the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System.
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New York, NY—Diarrhea is a common side effect of standard chemo­therapy, but the risk is less well characterized with molecularly targeted agents, which may add to the risk of diarrhea when combined with standard chemo­therapy, according to Lowell Anthony, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of Kentucky, and Chief of Medical Oncology, UK HealthCare, Lexington, who discussed this topic at the 2012 Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Inter­national Symposium.

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On July 6, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and Hospital Out­patient Prospective Pay­ment System (HOPPS) proposed rules for fiscal year 2013. These rules include a number of proposed changes aimed at improving quality and promoting value in cancer care in the Medicare program. Although many of these changes are positive, a number of proposed cuts to payment rates, particularly to services performed by radiation oncologists, could have a devastating impact on oncology providers and patients.

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Houston, TX—Payer-sponsored programs that promote appropriate end-of-life care are beneficial to all stakeholders, according to Ira M. Klein, MD, MBA, Chief of Staff to the Chief Medical Officer, Aetna Oncology Strategy.
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Over the past 2 years, we have written about the impact of accountable care organizations, value-based purchasing, health insurance exchanges, and other programs relevant to the oncology community. These initiatives were all born out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which, on June 28, 2012, had its major day of reckoning.
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