This is not alarming either. Fingerprinting Medicare -providers-.

US federal government having a real week here. Now HHS is fingerprinting health care providers as part of some kind of Obamacare thing.

Four years after Obamacare became law, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is notifying Medicare providers and suppliers of new fingerprint-based background checks.  Eventually, all individuals who hold a five percent or greater stake in a Medicare supplier or provider that is categorized as "high risk" will be subject to the requirement.  The provision is part of the Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP Program Integrity Provisions (Title E) of the Affordable Care Act, and gives the HHS secretary broad discretion in applying the background check requirements depending on the potential for abuse, fraud, and/or waste.

The new requirements are spelled out in a document posted online on the website of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last Friday.  The new rules will apply to both current and future enrollees who are classified as "high risk," the stated purpose being to weed out "bad actors" in the Medicare program and prevent any more from enrolling.

That's what happens when you have to pass something that runs to 10,000 pages so you'll know what's in it. HHS writes the rules, so providers should be grateful they didn't require a blood sample and a skin biopsy too.

The Phantom