OIG 2016 Work Plan – EHR Technology

The OIG 2016 Work Plan, published a few weeks ago, announced reviews of incentive payments for adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR), and plans to conduct security audits of certified EHR technology.

OIG 2016 Work Plan – Medicare and Medicaid Incentives Scrutinized

The OIG 2016 Work Plan outlines EHR adoption related reviews, such as:

  • review of Medicare/Medicaid incentive payments to eligible health care professionals and hospitals for adopting EHRs, and CMS safeguards to prevent erroneous incentive payments.
  • review of data to identify payments to providers that should not have received incentive payments (e.g., those not meeting selected Meaningful Use criteria).
  • assessment of CMS’s plans to oversee incentive payments for the duration of the program and corrective actions taken regarding erroneous incentive payments.

OIG 2016 Work Plan – Securing EHR Systems and Technology

The OIG 2016 Work Plan, buried in Appendix B, addresses eligible providers, including Hospitals and their contingency plans.  Areas of focus include:

  • determining the extent to which hospitals comply with contingency planning requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The HIPAA Security Rule requires hospitals to have a contingency plan that establishes policies and procedures for responding to an emergency or other occurrence that damages systems that protected health information (PHI).
  • comparing hospitals’ contingency plans with government and industry recommended practices.
  • performing audits of various covered entities receiving EHR incentive payments from CMS.
  • determining whether adequate protection of electronic health information is secured. Hospitals must conduct a Security Risk Analysis of certified EHR technology.

The OIG 2016 Work Plan will periodically be updated.  The latest information can be found at the website of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG).

OIG 2016 Work Plan – How-To and Fast?

You may be a person who is interested in reading the complete 80 page OIG 2016 Work Plan document.  You may even like to study the 274 page related  Fiscal Year 2015 Agency Financial Report,  the US Department of Health and Human Services just recently released.

However if you are looking for a quick overview, some insights, selected summaries, and important observations, The Fox Group suggests checking out the “Learn Morerelated posts, below.  Bookmark the sections and do not ignore the OIG 2016 Work Plan; audits are coming!

When you need proven expertise and performance

Cindy Winn-Garnigan, MBA, CHSP

Ms. Cindy Winn has over 20 years of healthcare experience and expertise in operations, project management, and is certified as a HIPAA Security Professional (CHSP).