News in brief - Oct. 10, 2005

Iasis gets subpoena - JCAHO creates tech advisory panel - HHS proposes claims standards

Iasis gets subpoena

Iasis Healthcare has received a subpoena seeking information about its physician recruitment practices. The Franklin, Tenn.-based company, which operates 14 acute care hospitals, said on Sept. 19 that it was cooperating with the request from the Office of the Inspector General of the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and was "fully committed" to regulatory compliance.

The subpoena requested documents from the last six years related to contractual arrangements between physicians and the hospitals, including leases, medical directorships and recruitment agreements, Iasis said.

JCAHO creates tech advisory panel

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has created a health care information technology advisory panel to recommend ways IT can be used to re-engineer patient care to improve safety, quality and efficiency.

Members of the advisory panel include AMA Secretary Joseph Heyman, MD, and William Jessee, MD, president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Assn.

HHS proposes claims standards

The Dept. of Health and Human Services published in the Federal Register in September its proposed rule to standardize certain electronic claims attachment transactions.

Under the proposed rule, HIPAA-covered entities would be required to use certain messaging standards and a new code set when they provide and respond to requests for clinical information for certain types of services being billed by doctors and hospitals to health plans.

The rule would cover six specific types of attachments: laboratory results, emergency department services, ambulance services, medications, clinical reports and nine rehabilitation specialties. This proposed rule has a two-month public comment period ending on Nov. 23.