MINNEAPOLIS, December 1, 2008—The Medicare Improvements for Patients & Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) provides that, starting in 2009, physicians will be eligible for incentive payments when they e-prescribe for Medicare patients seen in their offices.

MINNEAPOLIS, November 17, 2008—The Minnesota Chapter of HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) will present "Demystifying E-Prescribing," on December 2. 

MINNEAPOLIS, November 4, 2008—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Provider Communications Group will host the eighth in a series of national provider conference calls that began in November of 2007 on the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

MINNEAPOLIS, October 31, 2008—Late Thursday afternoon, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final 2009 Medicare physician payment rule that replaces a scheduled 15.1 percent cut with a 1.1 percent increase as required under the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA).

MINNEAPOLIS, October 23, 2008—CMS has announced that CGI Technologies and Solutions, Inc. of Fairfax, Virginia, will serve as the recovery audit contractor (RAC) for the State of Minnesota.

MINNEAPOLIS, October 20, 2008—Spending on Medicaid is expected to substantially outpace the rate of growth in the U.S. economy over the next decade, according to a new annual report by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

MINNEAPOLIS, September 16, 2008—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new rules barring insurance agents from calling the elderly and disabled to sell them prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage coverage.

MINNEAPOLIS, September 15, 2008—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a website that directly compares hospitals' mortality outcomes for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia care.

MINNEAPOLIS, September 9, 2008—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is launching plan to launch a web-based system for their Medicare practitioner database early next year, allowing doctors and others to complete part of the enrollment process online, according to a story at the technology news bulletin GovHealthIT.

MINNEAPOLIS, September 2, 2008—According to an article in American Medical News, the American Medical Association is concerned that a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to implement an expanded set of diagnostic codes by Oct. 1, 2011, does not give physicians enough time to adapt their practices.