• Illinois: The American Medical Association (AMA) recently released its updated list of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for 2025. A total of 420 updates were added to the list, including several revisions and 270 new codes. Multiple new codes related to artificial intelligence (AI) were added, including AI-driven data analysis for electrocardiogram measurements, medical chest imaging, and image-guided prostate biopsy. According to Modern Healthcare, updating the codes for digital health services will give providers and insurers more options when billing and seeking reimbursement. (DeSilva, Modern Healthcare, 9/10)
• Maryland: Last month, FDA issued a final rule that raises the minimum age for certain restrictions on tobacco product sales and raises the federal minimum age of sale of tobacco products in the United States from 18 to 21. Under the final rule, which goes into effect Sept. 30, retailers are required to verify the age of anyone under 30 who tries to purchase tobacco products with photo identification, up from the current requirement of 27. Retailers will also no longer be allowed to sell tobacco products in vending machines in places where people under 21 are present or can enter. Previously, the provision applied to businesses that served individuals under the age of 18. "Today's rule is another key step toward protecting our nation's youth from the health risks of tobacco products," said Brian King, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. "Decades of science have shown that keeping tobacco products away from youth is critical to reducing the number of people who ultimately become addicted to these products and suffer from tobacco-related disease and death." (Frieden, MedPage Today, 8/29)
• Wisconsin: CMS reported that personal information from almost 1 million Medicare beneficiaries may have been exposed in a data breach last year. The data breach occurred when an unauthorized third party accessed MOVEit, a popular file transfer system, that was being used to handle medical claims. According to Axios, the breach is part of a pattern of hackers targeting vulnerabilities in outside vendors' systems to steal customer information. CMS said it is notifying 946,801 beneficiaries in Wisconsin that their names, Social Security numbers, hospital account numbers, and insurance claim information could have been stolen between May 27 and May 31, 2023. Both CMS and its contractor, the Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corp., said they are now aware of any cases of identify fraud or improper use of personal information but are offering beneficiaries 12 months of free credit monitoring and other protection services. CMS said it is continuing to investigate the data breach with cybersecurity consultants and law enforcement. (Bettelheim, Axios, 9/9)

While the healthcare industry wrestles with some concerns about data privacy, the question remains: who is working to protect the data of consumers and patients?

Radio Advisory's Rachel Woods sat down with Advisory Board experts Ty Aderhold, Sara Zargham, and Paul Trigonoplos to discuss one stakeholder that is making moves to protect data privacy: the  Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In the conversation, they explore recent regulatory actions taken by the FTC and what this means for the industry. Read a lightly edited excerpt from the conversation and download the episode below.