HHS Awards $9 Million to Train Preventive Medicine Physicians Recovery Act Investments Will Support Preventive Medicine Residency Programs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, July 23, 2010 HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced 15 awards totaling $9 million to support Preventive Medicine Residency Programs at accredited schools of public health, schools of medicine, and hospitals. Of these funds, nearly $6.7 million is part of the $200 million appropriated to HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address the nation’s health care workforce shortages.  More... CMS' Berwick gets to work selling the meaningful use EHR rule July 13, 2010 — 1:35pm ET | By Sandra Yin On his second day of work as head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Donald Berwick got down to business, pitching the final meaningful use rule for 2011-12, as a "win-win," which would directly improve patient safety, flow, and reduce costs.  More... Volunteer Positions Available With POMAA    July 12, 2010 Dallastown, PA - July 12, 2010   Physician Office Managers Association of America (POMAA) has announced they will begin accepting applications for volunteer positions within their organization.  More...     Patients who email their doctors are healthier, Kaiser study finds July 12, 2010 — 11:11am ET | By Dan Bowman Patients who take advantage of secure patient-physician email options offered by their doctor are more likely to experience healthy outcomes, according to a recent study published in the journal Health Affairs. In a study of their own electronic health records system, Kaiser Permanente researchers found that patients suffering from diabetes and hypertension who emailed their doctors had higher quality of care scores than those who do not use such technology.  More... HHS proposes stronger privacy protections under HIPAA July 12, 2010 — 11:37am ET | By Neil Versel Proposed changes to the HIPAA privacy regulations would expand patients' rights to access their information and restrict certain types of disclosures of protected health information to health plans, according to InformationWeek. The plan is a response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which requires HHS to modify the HIPAA regulations that have been in place since 2003 by strengthening the privacy and security protections for health information.  More... Feds propose stronger patient privacy rights July 9, 2010 — 12:39pm ET | By Sandra Yin The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a new federal healthcare information privacy rule yesterday that would expand patients' rights to access their information and restrict certain types of disclosures of protected health information to health plans, according to InformationWeek.  More... American Medical Association (AMA) is Offering FREE Monthly Webinars Courtesy of Cynthia Penkala - June, 2010   Starting this month with the webinar "Step-by-Step Guide to Filing a UCR Settlement Claim," the AMA's "Heal the Claims Process" campaign is offering free monthly campaign webinars that highlight various unfair payer practices and resources to address them. Sign up for the free AMA Practice Management Alerts to ensure that you receive monthly invitations to view these archived webinars.   Medicare Cuts Delayed Until November 30, 2010    June 25, 2010 Dallastown, PA - June 25, 2010   Thursday, June 24, 2010 the House of Repersentatives passed the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 3962).  The act was passed by a 417 to 1 vote from the House.  In H.R.3962 there is a provision that blocks the 21.3 percent in Medicare physician payments until November 30, 2010.  More... POMAA Adds New Resources for Its Members    June 15, 2010 Dallastown, PA - June 15, 2010   POMAA along with help from members such as Rebecca Baker, CPM has created a hospital physician owned practice resource area to its member's only resource area of their website.  More...      The National Office Managers Association of America is a sister association of POMAA!  www.NOMAA.net

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