Under the proposed legislation, HHS would be required to publish Medicare claims and payment data to the website USAspending.gov by the end of 2012. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said the publicized information could help the government prevent expensive Medicare fraud, as transparency about billing and payments increases public understanding of where tax dollars are spent.
HHS, the AMA and various physician organizations oppose the bill, arguing that releasing claims data to the public does not help combat fraud. Physician organizations say the access could let the public determine the salary of an individual physician, especially one who accepts a majority of Medicare patients.
The release of the data has been prohibited by a court ruling for more than 30 years, following a 1979 judge’s ruling that individual billing data were exempt from public disclosure laws. The ruling barred the predecessor department to HHS from disclosing a list of Medicare professionals who received Medicare payments the previous year.
Read the American Medical News report on physician billing.
Read more on billing, coding and collections:
–AMA Announces Medical App Contest for Physicians, Residents and Med Students
–Medicare Issues Significiant Changes to Surgery Center Drug and Biologics Reimbursement
–Study: Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy
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