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Top Stories

• FDA makes new proposal related to C. diff and other threatening pathogens

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a regulation to establish a list of “qualifying pathogens” that have the potential to pose a serious threat to public health. C. diff is one of these pathogens. Read on to learn more about this proposed rule.

• CMS says it's not too late to avoid payment adjustments

  Eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs) that cannot demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) could soon face Medicare payment adjustments. But CMS has an important message for providers: there’s still time to prove meaningful use and avoid adjustments.

• CMS releases new QAPI resources

  CMS has announced the release of new materials dedicated to the Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) transition. Check out these new training materials today!

• CMS releases new ICD-10 FAQs

  CMS released three FAQs about ICD-10 billing, including how to bill encounters that cross the ICD-10 implementation date. That’s October 1, 2014 in case you forgot. And a claim cannot contain both ICD-9 and ICD-10-CM codes. So what to do you?

• Q/A: How do we report therapy G codes and modifiers for multiple therapies?

  Q: Our outpatient rehab department is having some discussion about how to report the G codes and modifiers. They are struggling with how to report the codes when the patient has multiple reasons for attending therapy.  

• ANA to release safe patient handling guide

  Injuries and musculoskeletal disorders that result from improper patient handling are a grim reality for many nurses. In an effort to remedy this problem, which costs the United States more than $7 billion each year in worker compensation costs, medical bills, and staff replacements, the American Nurses Association is releasing a new guide that teaches safe handling procedures.