Keeping up with Annapolis & Its Impact on Your Practice
Not sure how to keep up with the flurry of legislation that comes out of Annapolis each year? Ince you have seen your patients, resolved your latest employee matter, negotiated your provider contracts and coded your bills, you can read through the 2,654 Bills introduced in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates this year, track each Bill's introduction, hearing schedule and committee report, and then see if the matter is brought to a vote. Or, you can read Rounds and Med-Chi Physician and get involved with the Montgomery Country Medical Society's many programs and lobbying efforts! The following is a list of 10 laws that passed in Annapolis this year which could affect your practice:
Electronic Health Records
House Bill 706 requires the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) and the Health Services Cost Review Commission to designate a central electronic health information exchange for the State on or before October 1, 2009, and for the MHCC to report on its progress in implementing related state laws on or before January 1, 2010. With these efforts, Maryland has become a national leader in developing health information technologies. In addition, House Bill 706 requires certain State payors and health insurance carriers to provide incentives (with monetary value) to providers to promote the adoption and meaningful use of an electronic record system.
Changes to Traditional Professional Service Corporation Requirements
With limited exceptions, the name of a professional service corporation (PSC), like a physician practice, is required to include the surname of one or more of the stockholders of the corporation. House Bill 498 excepts from this general rule PSCs in which a majority of the stockholders are physicians licensed by the State Board of Physicians. In addition, Senate Bill 634 narrows the general authority of the State’s professional service licensing bodies to allow PSCs, by exception, to render professional services in two or more professions only in situations where the two (or more) professional services are “the same, similar, or related.”
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