irs rules news from FierceHealthIT

Here's the story of how one south Texas health system has responded to new federal guidance making it clear that non-profits can help doctors acquire EMRs. Valley Health Care Network, a physician-hospital organization affiliated with Valley Baptist Health System of Brownsville, TX, has begun subsidizing EMR rollouts among participating physicians. To take part in the the program, physicians must agree to use GE Healthcare's Centricity EMR, which is already in place within the system's …

Non-profit hospitals across the U.S. got a gift this week from the IRS, which ruled once and for all they can safely donate EMR systems and related support services to affiliated doctors. Many of these hospitals have looked at giving doctors with staff privileges EMR systems, rather than waiting until the physicians were ready to invest themselves. However, until last week it wasn't clear whether the IRS saw such donations as providing "private benefit," something that could endanger a …

For a while now, the voluntary hospital industry has been nervously waiting for the IRS to offer some guidance on whether they can legally give EMRs or other IT equipment to physicians--and have gotten no response. Now, hospital executives are starting to get antsy. Last week the American Hospital Association issued yet another request urging the IRS to offer clear guidance on whether health IT donations to doctors are OK, acceptable some of the time or unacceptable.

It's now been …

In some cases, giving a physician practice software, hardware and IT support may be the only way to get them on board with hospital EMR efforts. But despite new HHS rules allowing the giveaways, non-profits may not be able to do so. In August, the HHS Office of the Inspector General issued guidelines specifically exempting such donations from anti-kickback and Stark law rules. But then …