Long Term Care & Senior Living Blog

Discarded pharmaceuticals and the high cost of drugs continue to receive attention in the news, as well as from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In response to these concerns, CMS recently issued a mandate updating the use by hospitals of the JW modifier to document discarded drugs or biologicals in patient’s medical records.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA reported a stolen employee laptop containing patient protected health information as well as social security numbers and other personal information of at least 500 patients. While the hospital has encryption policies, this laptop lacked encryption after a recent operating system upgrade. The hospital will mail letters this week to potentially affected patients and has notified all relevant regulatory agencies, but the situation underlines the importance of adequately protected patient information.

The Justice Department announced that St. James Healthcare, a hospital in Butte, Montana, and its parent, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, based in Denver, CO, agreed to resolve allegations of violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by improperly providing financial benefits to physicians and physician groups that made referrals to the hospital.