The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with a 2.9% cut to physician payments in 2025 despite protest from major industry groups. CMS announced Friday it finalized the calendar year 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule that sets payment rates for next year and also outlines new policies focused on primary care, preserved telehealth flexibilities and a strengthened Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). A CMS fact sheet on the rule outlines the key provisions.
Feds warn of AI voice spoofing in healthcare
Federal authorities are warning of a hacking collective targeting healthcare with artificial intelligence-enabled voice spoofing and voice phishing. Scattered Spider has been in operation since 2022, deploying social engineering techniques to bypass security checks and infect computer systems with ransomware, according to an Oct. 24 notice from HHS' Office of Information Security and the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center. The group's tactics overlap with cybercriminals who call hospital IT help desks with "spearphishing" voice methods to divert payments from payer accounts to their own.
Health transparency research organization OpenNotes is leading a study to evaluate Abridge’s AI-generated patient visit summaries. Founded in 2018, Abridge has developed an AI-powered platform for medical conversations, improving clinical documentation efficiencies. This partnership is part of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s new OpenNotes Lab, an initiative fostering collaboration between patients and clinicians in developing AI-powered tools designed to advance transparency and digital health equity.
Everyone agrees primary care is crucial to a functioning healthcare ecosystem and to a healthy society. Being able to deliver preventive care and intervene early saves lives and downstream costs. But it is just not working as well as it should be, according to providers. A panel of primary care experts considered the drawbacks of the traditional model and opportunities for the sector during Fierce Healthcare’s partner program (link to video) at HLTH last month.
EHR vendors are making bold strides to reshape healthcare technology, unveiling new features, partnerships, and AI-powered tools aimed at enhancing patient care and streamlining clinical workflows. Here's a look at some recent announcements from Oracle Health, Epic, and Meditech.
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