We are now three-quarters of the way through 2020, and I think most of us can agree it’s been a doozy of a year so far. While the COVID-19 pandemic has received the lion’s share of attention over the last six months or so, there is another widespread threat that many have neglected to notice—a surge in cyberattacks. Many of these attacks have been aimed at various organizations in the healthcare industry, making an already rough situation even worse for many practices and hospitals.

Last year, we posted a blog to discuss how the right EHR software can and should reduce physician and staff burnout. The world has changed a lot since then, needless to say. However, burnout among healthcare providers is still a very serious issue. According to a 2020 Medscape report on Physician Suicide & Burnout, 42 percent of responding physicians reported feelings of burnout. While this is a 4 percent overall drop from five years ago, it is still a fairly high amount. Of the physicians who participated, the highest levels of burnout were seen among specialty providers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released its proposed 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Among the proposed items are a number of significant changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) for next year. To make sure your practice knows what to expect with these new changes, here is a list of just some of the more notable items:

Starting today, August 3, 2020, CMS is resuming suspended medical reviews as well as initiating new audits. While this should merely be a return to business as usual for MIPS providers, it is important to note that this resumption of CMS audits will now continue regardless of the status of the current public health emergency. To help our readers get ready, we thought this would be a good time to offer a quick refresher on preparing for and surviving a MIPS audit. For reference, check out our new eBook Winning the Game: Surviving a MIPS Audit.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread disruptions across multiple industries, including healthcare. Companies and organizations have had to pivot focus and reinvent traditional approaches to longstanding processes in order to adapt to sudden changes. Eating out in restaurants has been replaced by food delivery. Classrooms have been replaced with online distance learning. The doctor’s office has been supplemented with telemedicine, remote monitoring and virtual visits.

In a recent blog, we discussed the new CMS proposed rules intended to make permanent many of the telehealth flexibilities initiated in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Since that time, two additional and very significant pieces of telehealth legislation have been introduced. First, on July 16, 2020, a group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Protecting Access to Post-COVID-19 Telehealth Act to the U.S. House of Representatives. The very next day, July 17, Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) introduced the Equal Access to Care Act to the U.S. Senate.

At the close of June 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a new proposed rule that would make some of the recent flexibilities for telehealth permanent. Many of these changes are already in place, though temporarily for now, in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. If finalized, this rule would make several of these new telehealth flexibilities permanent. This blog will provide you with a summary of the proposed rule so that you can stay informed on what it could mean for you and your practice.

Getting your money’s worth out of your EHR & Practice Management vendor is crucial to making sure your practice is provided with a solution that can keep all clinical, operational and financial processes running smoothly. However, finding the right vendor is about a lot more than just software. You need to take a close look at the kind of company you are choosing as well. Selecting a vendor is a commitment to a long-term relationship, and like in any relationship, choosing the wrong partner can mean frustration and trouble down the line.