ONC Issues New Federal Health IT Strategic Plan –On December 8, 2014, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020 (Plan). The Plan includes fourteen objectives under five goals: (1) expand adoption of health IT; (2) advance secure and interoperable health information; (3) strengthen health care delivery; (4) advance the health and well-being of individuals and communities; and (5) advance research, scientific knowledge, and innovation. Significantly, the Plan emphasizes the expansion through federal efforts of health IT adoption and use for health care providers who are ineligible to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Records Incentive Programs, such as providers practicing in long-term and post-acute care or behavioral health settings. ONC will accept comments on the Plan through February 6, 2015.

CMS Proposes Revisions To Ensure Coverage For Same-Sex Spouses – On December 12, 2014, CMS published a proposed rule that would revise certain conditions of participation for providers, conditions for coverage for suppliers, and requirements for long-term care facilities to ensure that they are consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor and HHS policy. In Windsor, the Supreme Court held that Section 3 of the Defense Against Marriage Act was unconstitutional. According to CMS’s fact sheet, the proposed rule would revise select definitions and patient’s rights provisions governing Medicare and Medicaid participating facilities to clarify that “where state law or facility policy provides or allows certain rights or privileges to a patient’s opposite-sex spouse under certain provisions, a patient’s same-sex spouse must be afforded equal treatment if the marriage is valid in the jurisdiction in which it was celebrated.” Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted by February 10, 2015.

OIG Issues FY 2014 Semiannual Report To Congress – On December 9, 2014, OIG released its Semiannual Report to Congress (Report). According to the Report, the Government is expected to recover $4.9 billion in improperly spent federal health care dollars as a result of oversight and investigations conducted this year by OIG. The $4.9 billion in expected recoveries for FY 2014 consist of nearly $834.7 million in program audits and approximately $4.1 billion in investigative work (which includes about $1.1 billion in areas such as States’ shares of Medicaid restitution). To view the Report, click here. To view the Press Release, click here.