http://www.grantthornton.com Grant Thornton LLP Copyright Grant Thornton LLP. webmaster@GrantThornton.com http://www.grantthornton.com/gtlogo.gif http://www.grantthornton.com <p>Our latest board governance survey found renewed focus on long-term sustainability and growth among nonprofit board members and executives. On the flipside, the industry still lacks strategic governance and reputational risk management, two key aspects of effective nonprofit management.</p> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 <p>A wave of high-profile bankruptcies has swept the continuing care retirement community (CCRC) industry, leaving many CCRC operators and lenders with new uncertainties about the future. Scott Davis, partner in Grant Thornton's Corporate Advisory &#38; Restructuring Services practice, and Paul Melville, Principal in Grant Thornton's Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Services practice, have provided considerations for CCRC operators and lenders in situations of distress.</p> Wed, 31 Oct 2012 <p>In this article, Kurt Manske, a director in Grant Thornton's Business Advisory Services group, discusses the required compliance of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.&#160;</p> Mon, 29 Oct 2012 <p><b>Date</b>: Friday, October 19, 2012<br /> <b>Time</b>: 8:00 a.m –1:30 p.m. ET<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton offices, 666 Third Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, 11th floor, New York, NY&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to offer the AHIA Midtown Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives ... Mon, 24 Sep 2012 <p><b>Date</b>: Friday, October 19, 2012<br /> <b>Time</b>: 8:30 a.m –10:30 p.m. CT<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton LLP, 1717 Main St., Suite 1500, Dallas, TX</p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to offer the AHIA Midtown Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique to their roles, share ideas ... Mon, 24 Sep 2012 <p><b>Date:</b> Tuesday, October 2, 2012<br /> <b>Time: </b>8:00 a.m – 2:00 p.m. ET<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton offices, 201 S. College St., Suite 2500 Charlotte, NC<br /> <br /> As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to offer the AHIA Midtown Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique to their ... Mon, 24 Sep 2012 <p><b>Date:</b> Friday, October 19, 2012<br /> <b>Location: </b>Grant Thornton Offices, 666 Third Avenue, 11th Floor Conference Room, New York, NY 10017</p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to sponsor the AHIA Philadelphia Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique to their roles, share ideas and ... Thu, 06 Sep 2012 <p>The governance of not-for-profit health systems has never been under greater scrutiny. Moreover, as health care organizations continue to transform, the role of governance becomes even more critical. To help hospital boards and CEOs enhance their governance effectiveness and continue to adapt to an onslaught of change, Grant Thornton co-sponsored this groundbreaking new study, led by Lawrence Prybil, Professor and Associate Dean, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Governance ... Mon, 20 Aug 2012 <p><b>Date</b>: Friday, September 28, 2012<br /> <b>Time</b>: 8:30 a.m. –1:30 p.m. ET&#160;<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton Offices, 1717 Main Street, Suite 1500 Dallas, TX 75201 <a href="http://www.gt.com/portal/site/gtcom/menuitem.8f5399f6096d695263012d28633841ca/?vgnextoid=90d33233cd996210VgnVCM1000003a8314acRCRD" target="[New Window]"><b>Click here for directions</b></a></p> <p>This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss ... Wed, 01 Aug 2012 <p>This Grant Thornton-sponsored study examines the governance structures and practices of 14 of the largest and most well-known health care systems. What emerges is a distinct picture of the critical success factors for health system governance.</p> Fri, 27 Jul 2012 <p>Approximately 1,250 health care M&#38;A transactions were reported during 2011, a nearly 10% increase from the previous year. This snapshot examines issues that have powered the significant M&#38;A activity - such as health care reform, rising costs of care, expiring patents and the move toward digital health records - and highlights their impact on the deal market and commenting on how future M&#38;A trends might be affected.</p> Mon, 09 Jul 2012 <p>The Supreme Court on June 28 passed down its long awaited ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA).</p> Thu, 28 Jun 2012 <p>Anthony Hernandez, Principal in Grant Thornton's Business Advisory Services practice, examines a new security and privacy challenge facing healthcare providers - compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS).</p> Mon, 18 Jun 2012 <p>Mark Oster, Partner-in-Charge, National Not-for-Profit Business Advisory Services Practice, writes about how cloud computing can help support a wide range of organizational structures and business services in the healthcare industry.</p> Mon, 18 Jun 2012 <p>Grant Thornton is pleased to participate as platinum sponsors and exhibitors at the <b>2012 AHIA Annual Conference</b>, taking place at Lowe’s Hotel in Philadelphia, PA on August 26-29. <a href="http://www.resourcenter.net/Scripts/4disapi1.dll/4DCGI/events/272.html?Action=Conference_Detail&#38;ConfID_W=272"><b>Click here for more information and registration</b></a>.&#160;</p> <p>Grant Thornton’s health care professionals will participate in the following programs:<br /> <br /> <i><b>Sunday, ... Wed, 30 May 2012 <p>Grant Thornton is pleased to exhibit at this year’s 2012 ANI (Annual National Institute) taking place at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center. Please be sure to stop by our booth (#1061) to say hello to Grant Thornton’s health care professionals.<br /> <br /> <a href="www.hfmaconference.org/registration"><b>Click here for more information and registration.</b></a>&#160;</p> Wed, 30 May 2012 <p>Sharing information with cloud providers, consultants, business process outsourcers, third party transaction processors, and other business associates is now standard practice in the business world - but when data is moved out of an organization's protected infrastructure, a certain degree of control is lost. Jan Hertzberg, Managing Director in Grant Thornton's Business Advisory Services practice, examines the inherent risks of using a third-party vendor for key business functions as well as how your organization can protect itself.</p> Fri, 04 May 2012 <p>Anne McGeorge, National Managing Partner of Grant Thornton's Health Care practice, Frank Giardini, Principal, and Michele Melchior, Director, discuss how the recent IRS code Section 501(r) affects tax-exempt hospitals.</p> Tue, 10 Apr 2012 <p><b>Date:</b> Wednesday, May 16-17, 2012<br /> <b>Time:</b> Registration begins on May 16 at 12:30: Conference starts at 1:00 p.m. CST&#160;<br /> <b>Location:</b> Omni Dallas Hotel, 555 S. Lamar, Dallas 75202<br /> <br /> Now in its fifth year, Top performers in the healthcare deal community from across the nation will gather to share the latest strategies, trends, and approaches to creative deal making. This is the venue in the Southwest for peer to peer networking among healthcare company ... Tue, 03 Apr 2012 <p><b>Date:</b> Thursday, May 3, 2012<br /> <b>Time: </b>8:00 a.m - 1:30 p.m. ET<br /> <b>Location: </b>Grant Thornton Offices, Two Commerce Square, Suite 3100, Philadelphia, PA 19103</p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to sponsor the AHIA Philadelphia Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique ... Thu, 29 Mar 2012 <p>Grant Thornton LLP’s integrated HIPAA privacy and security services can help your organization determine if it meets the HIPAA/HITECH requirements; identify potential gaps in your compliance; and identify best practices or techniques that can be applied to your security and privacy environment to fix these gaps.</p> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 <p>The use of third-party vendors for key business functions is here to stay. Yet, as data moves out of the organization’s protected infrastructure into that of a third-party vendor, a certain degree of control is relinquished. Monitoring third-party data security and privacy risk requires a strong and effective process for ongoing vendor management that starts long before the contract is even signed.</p> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 Please click the link above for more information Wed, 21 Mar 2012 <p><b>Date</b>: Friday, May 11, 2012<br /> <b>Time</b>: 8:30 a.m –1:30 p.m. ET<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton offices, 666 Third Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, 13th floor, New York, NY&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;<a href="http://www.gt.com/portal/site/gtcom/menuitem.8f5399f6096d695263012d28633841ca/?vgnextoid=371eea95e5a96210VgnVCM1000003a8314acRCRD" target="[New window]"><b>Click here for directions</b></a></p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration ... Thu, 08 Mar 2012 <p>Health care as a business is changing dramatically. Effective governance is more important than ever, but what are the best governance features at leading health care systems? Dr. Lawrence Prybil, principal investigator of <i>Governance in USA’s Largest Nonprofit Health Systems</i>, and Anne McGeorge, national managing partner of Grant Thornton LLP’s Health Care practice, recently sat down to provide insight into the current state of governance practices at some of the leading health systems in the United States.</p> Tue, 06 Mar 2012 <p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued a proposed rule that would (1) specify the Stage 2 criteria that eligible hospitals, critical access hospitals (CAHs), and eligible professionals (EPs) must meet in order to qualify for Medicare and/or Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive payments; (2) specify clinical quality measures (CQMs) to be reported, and (3) specify payment adjustments (reductions) under Medicare for covered professional services and hospital services failing to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology and other program participation requirements.</p> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 <p>Congress is expected to approve legislation – HR 3630 – <i>the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012</i> – that would extend the Payroll Tax Reduction, continue Unemployment Benefits and prevent Medicare Physician Payment reductions through December 31, 2012.</p> Thu, 23 Feb 2012 <p>President Obama has released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Budget. The requirement to send a budget to Congress in February has become an annual ritual in as much as these budgets are rarely endorsed, and are considered dead on arrival. Nonetheless, presidential budgets can formulate many areas for Congressional actions in dealing with future spending.</p> Thu, 16 Feb 2012 <p>The IRS on Dec. 23 issued new temporary and proposed regulations that replace 2008 proposed regulations on "repairs." These newly issued regulations - which impact every for-profit health care company, including hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other facilities - are effective as of January 1, 2012.</p> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 <p>As previously reported, CMS issued a rule correcting the Calendar Year (CY) 2012 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment (OPPS) System and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Rates and Weights. The correction notice (CN) appeared in the January 4th Federal Register. These changes are effective January 1, 2012.</p> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 <p>CMS has issued a rule correcting the Calendar Year (CY) 2012 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment (OPPS) System Rates, Weights and other related items. These changes are effective January 1, 2012.</p> Thu, 12 Jan 2012 <p>The Senate has approved a legislative package that would extend the current "payroll tax holiday," continue unemployment jobless benefits, provide temporary relief to the scheduled Medicare physician payment reduction and extend several Medicare items scheduled to expire on December 31, 2011. The Senate measures are only for two months and are scheduled to expire on February 29, 2012.</p> Tue, 27 Dec 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare &#38; Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued a proposed rule that would require manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologicals, and medical supplies covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to report to CMS payments or other transfers of value they make to physicians and teaching hospitals. The proposal would implement Section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).</p> Fri, 16 Dec 2011 <p><b>Date:</b> Thursday, February 2, 2012<br /> <b>Location: </b>Grant Thornton Offices, Two Commerce Square, Suite 3100, Philadelphia, PA 19103</p> <p>As part of our firm’s ongoing involvement and collaboration on national and local AHIA programs, we are very pleased to sponsor the AHIA Philadelphia Chief Audit Executive Roundtable. This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique to their roles, share ideas and best ... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 <p><b>Date</b>: Friday, Feb. 10, 2011<br /> <b>Location:</b> Grant Thornton Offices, 666 Third Avenue, 13th floor, Chrysler Center, New York, NY</p> <p>This complimentary meeting will provide health care internal audit executives the opportunity to discuss issues unique to their roles, share ideas and best practices, and network with peers. It promises to be a highly interactive roundtable discussion format with content based upon the issues and topics driven exclusively by the participants. ... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 <p style=" text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="163" src="http://www.gt.com/staticfiles/GTCom/ecomms/OneMedForum.jpg" width="163" /></p> <p><b>Dates</b>: Monday, Jan.9-12, 2012<br /> <b>Location:</b> Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, CA</p> <p>Grant Thornton is pleased to participate as a presenting sponsor of the 5th Annual OneMedForum conference, taking place in San Francisco, January 9 -12th.</p> <p>The forum has grown in size and stature to become one of the most important ... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 <p>This issue of PhysicianRx, the first of this new publication, provides tips and considerations for establishing an effective and appropriate compensation program for your organization.</p> Tue, 29 Nov 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued their final rule updating the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system for Calendar Year (CY) 2012.</p> Wed, 09 Nov 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare &#38; Medicaid Services (CMS) have released a final calendar year (CY) 2012 update to the home health prospective payment system (HH PPS). The rule will decrease overall Medicare payments by some 2.31 percent compared to current 2011 amounts or by $430 million as a result of a negative 3.79 case-mix adjustment to account for increases unrelated to changes in “real” case-mix.</p> Wed, 09 Nov 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued a final rule that will update and make certain revisions to the End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) prospective payment system (PPS) for calendar year (CY) 2012. The rule also sets forth requirements for the ESRD quality incentive program (QIP) for payment years (PYs) 2013 and 2014.</p> Wed, 09 Nov 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued a final rule regarding revisions to payment policies under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for Calendar Year (CY) 2012.</p> Wed, 09 Nov 2011 <p>This issue of <i>Health CareRx</i>offers health care organizations a primer on successfully transitioning to ICD-10 and HIPAA Version 5010.</p> Thu, 03 Nov 2011 <p>Erik Shannon, CPA, Partner-in-Charge of Grant Thornton's Health Care Business Advisory Services Practice, and David Reitzel, CMC, CPHIE, Grant Thornton's national health care business advisory services health IT leader, discuss steps healthcare organizations should take to prepare for the pending HIPAA 5010 and ICD-10 deadlines.</p> Wed, 02 Nov 2011 <p>The Centers for Medicare &#38; Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued final rules that will implement Section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This final rule contains provisions relating to Medicare payments to providers of services and suppliers participating in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program.&#160;</p> Fri, 28 Oct 2011 <p>Grant Thornton is proud to sponsor this Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors (AHIA) 2011 Regional Seminar which provides a forum for Healthcare internal auditors to network and interact with their peers, to share internal audit best practices, and to strengthen the profession of Healthcare internal auditing. Erik Shannon, Grant Thornton's Partner-in-Charge for the Health Care Business Advisory Services practice, will present on "The Implications to the Internal Audit Function in an ... Wed, 26 Oct 2011 <p>Presenter:<br /> Susan DeVore, President and CEO, Premier, Inc.</p> Thu, 20 Oct 2011 <p>Presenter:<br /> Jerry Fralick, Chief Information Officer, State of North Carolina</p> Thu, 20 Oct 2011 <p>Presenters:<br /> Milton Cerny, Counsel, McGuire Woods LLP<br /> Anne McGeorge, Healthcare National Managing Partner, Grant Thornton LLP<br /> Mindy Fox Staley, Assistant General Counsel, Novant<br /> Michele Melchior, Tax - Senior Manager, Grant Thornton LLP (Moderator)</p> Thu, 20 Oct 2011 <p>Presenters:<br /> Scott Davis, Principal, Corporate Advisory &#38; Restructuring Services, Grant Thornton LLP<br /> Mark Toney, National Managing Principal, Corporate Advisory &#38; Restructuring Services, Grant Thornton LLP</p> Thu, 20 Oct 2011 <p>Presenters:&#160;<br /> Mike Monahan, Executive Director, National Not-for-Profit Compensation &#38; Benefits Practice Leader, Grant Thornton LLP<br /> Phil Geissinger, FHFMA, CMPE, Partner, TatumLLC<br /> Max Reiboldt, CPA, President/CEO, Coker Consulting<br /> Victor L. Moldovan, Partner, McGuireWoods LLP (Moderator)</p> Thu, 20 Oct 2011