non-profit hospitals news from FierceHealthIT
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CO to create country's largest telehealth network
Colorado should soon play host to the largest telehealth network in the country, courtesy of a $4.6 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission. The Colorado Hospital Association, which... Read more...
Non-profits wondering how IRS feels about RHIOs
As most readers know, it took what felt like an eternity for the IRS just to come out with it and say how it felt about non-profit hospitals' plans to make EMR donations to physicians. So complex... Read more...
Non-profit hospitals offering EMRs to MDs, but cautiously
It's been about a year since the IRS officially declared that under the right circumstances, it was perfectly fine with Read more...
S&P to monitor non-profit hospital IT spending
Over the next few years, credit rating firm Standard & Poor's plans to take a much closer look at the extent to which not-for-profit hospitals keep up with their peers in making technology... Read more...
Legal or not, EMR donations still chancy
It's always nice to be out from under the white-hot scrutiny of the IRS, so it's great that the agency has joined HHS in making physician EMR donations safe for non-profit hospitals--but are such donations smart strategy? Maybe, maybe …
IRS gives physician EMR donations the OK
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 …
... Read more...Reaching doctor data poses EMR challenge
As if rolling out EMRs wasn't challenging enough, ComputerWorld reminds us that in order for EMRs to be useful tools for both hospitals and doctors, hospitals must be able to access doctors' records. Roughly 70 percent of the care patients receive will be administered outside the hospital setting. "If hospitals are automated to the max and their referring physicians are still using paper, all they have is a fairly expensive 30 percent solution," explains John Morrissey, director …
... Read more...HHS, IRS rules on EMR donations clash
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 …
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