NASL depends on the engagement of its membership to set the direction of our association and help accomplish our collective goals. Become more involved by running for the NASL 2014-15 Board of Directors.  Self-nominations accepted through COB Friday, August 8. Read more or contact us at 202.803.2385 or lauradlc@nasl.org for more information.

The House has delayed a vote on the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act from the schedule of bills that were to be voted on during the last week before adjourning for the August recess. The IMPACT Act (H.R. 4994/S. 2553) is bipartisan, bicameral legislation that requires post-acute care providers to report standardized patient assessment data.  Read more.

The e-Prescribing Rule has been in effect since 2005 and modified a couple of times since then. Still, it was not until an official from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) articulated what the agency views as a valid “prescription” and “prescription-related information” during a recent webinar that we began to understand what CMS considers “e-Prescribing.” This newly articulated policy prompted a host of questions and confusion across the sector. NASL has been working with key partners ranging from health IT vendors to LTC pharmacies and those involved with setting the standards used in e-prescribing to clarify the following: what’s considered “e-Prescribing,” what does lifting the LTC exemption from e-Prescribing Rule mean for LTPAC and what steps do we need to take before November 1, 2014? For details, click here. 

The Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) Audit Improvement and Reform (AIR) Act of 2014 (H.R. 5083), which was introduced on July 11, 2014 by Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and John Barrow (D-GA), and backed by a bipartisan group of four co-sponsors, aims to relieve pressure DME suppliers face from Recovery Audit Contractor, Medicare Administrative Contractor and other program integrity audits.  Read more.

As previously reported, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has reorganized the two federal advisory groups charged with advising the ONC on health IT policy and standards to better align with ONC’s strategic direction and federal policy priorities. Leadership of the newly reconfigured committees were announced in an August 4^th blogpost by ONC Director of the Office of Policy & Planning Jodi G. Daniel, JD, MPH. NASL is especially pleased to see “one of our own” – Larry Wolf, IT Strategist for Kindred Healthcare – has been appointed co-chair of the new Health IT Implementation, Usability & Safety Workgroup of the HIT Policy Committee (HITPC). We also applaud John Derr’s ongoing role on the HIT Standards Committee (HITSC). Review the ONC blogpost about the newly appointed co-chairs for the HITPC & HITSC workgroups.

On July 31, 2014, Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Gregg Harper (R-MS) introduced the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2014 (H.R. 5380). The bill seeks to expand telehealth services under Medicare for video conferencing and store-and-forward technologies using a phased-in approach. The bill has received support from both the American Telehealth Association (ATA) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Learn more about telehealth policy by attending NASL’s webinar on “tele-rehabilitation” on August 21, 2014. Read the press release for H.R. 5380 here. 

On August 1, 2014, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) released draft guidance that could exempt certain “low risk” medical devices from pre-market requirements. The guidance, which represents the FDA’s “current thinking on this topic,” contains nonbinding recommendations. In brief, the guidance states, “The FDA believes devices identified in section 4 of this guidance 20 document are sufficiently well understood and do not present risks that require premarket notification (510(k)) review to assure their safety and effectiveness.” The Class II and Class I devices that FDA intends to exempt from this premarket notification requirement could impact mobile applications, too. News coverage about the draft quote “mHealth” advocates who praise FDA for taking such a practical approach to its medical device review process and willingness to update policies to more effectively manage products, which pose a low risk to patient safety. Review the FDA Draft Guidance.