I realize it's been quite a while since I taught - or was in school myself - but I'm distressed…
Morning Headlines 7/18/17
Emids Acquires Encore, Broadens Services to Healthcare Providers
Health IT service provider Emids acquires Encore Health Resources for an undisclosed sum.
Senate Letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) send a letter to CMS asking what steps have been taken to recover the EHR Incentive Program overpayments uncovered in a recent OIG investigation.
Cerner and the DoD bring Naval Hospital Oak Harbor live on MHS Genesis, its first inpatient setting go-live.
Cerner hires former VA IT strategist for EHR team
Cerner hires former VA chief information strategy officer David Waltman to work on its federal team. During his time at the VA, Waltman worked on the VistA modernization project and DoD/VA interoperability efforts.
Can’t say I’m shocked to see Cerner hire Waltman shortly after winning* the VA contract. They’re known to make deals on the sly with prospective customers, promising hospital executives jobs at Cerner in exchange for influencing a sale. This reeks of the same.
He did not move to Cerner from the VA–that was a former position before moving to AbleVets.
He was at AbleVets for a split second. Hardly any credible length of time that would make this hire look any less shady. But then again, shady is Cerner’s MO. Maybe they’re just not even trying to hide it anymore.
Congress is sending the dogs out to claw back MU payments….
What do providers learn from this?
As fast as you can and as much as you can tolerate, get out of Medicare, and all its ridiculously complex burdensome regulatory programs. Not only will they give you a serious headache, force you to click and bang away all night at a computer, if you make a silly mistake, they will come back and demand ALL their money back. Its not like providers are out here trying to do fraud and abuse, we are just trying to survive in the nightmare of healthcare of 2017. Its sad, but any clawback MU program will definitely make providers PAUSE before participating in any new MACRA type program. Pretty sure they will leave me alone, if I take penalties and my life will be much better. Or just stop seeing Medicare patients altogether. That is definitely an option for many of us.