News in brief - June 20, 2011

Health IT office looking to reach physicians

The Health and Human Services Dept. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has announced its intention to survey physicians and other clinicians on the best ways to promote and communicate the agency's policies and agenda.

The ONC published a notice in the Federal Register in May saying that the ONC "must determine their [clinicians'] informational needs and the most effective communication channels and formats for reaching and educating them about the transition to an electronic records environment. This information will allow ONC to engage health care professionals as partners in the transition."

Back to top

Humana fined for violations in Colorado

After reviewing company records from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2009, as part of a market conduct examination, Colorado insurance regulators found that Humana was violating several state laws and fined the company $299,000.

The state Division of Insurance said in a news release June 6 that it had found, among other things, that Humana had left out important benefit information about mandated coverage, charged rates that hadn't been filed with the state, paid claims late, used the wrong underwriting criteria for small group policies, used "incorrect" utilization review procedures, and failed to follow state rules when canceling members' coverage.

In a company statement, Humana said it "takes seriously our obligations to compliance and our commitment to the highest standards in customer service, claims processing and utilization review. We have and will continue to work collaboratively with the Colorado Division of Insurance to address the issues highlighted in the DOI's market-examination report."

Back to top