Advocacy News

This is a key step to ensuring that Medicare’s new value-based payment system allows you to stand apart from those outside your area of expertise

The final Medicare fee schedule rule for 2017, released Nov. 2, implemented several major changes the Academy sought.

We believe that CMS’ reliance on numerous faulty formulas will negatively impact your practice

New system comes with new bonuses and penalties as a means for emphasizing value over volume in patient care

Ophthalmology payments reduced by 1 percent as agency ignores RUC recommendations

Academy Secretary for Federal Affairs George Williams, MD, discusses what the Academy is doing to support retina physicians, particularly related to use of modifier -25. He also offered some perspective in the context of the recent Office of the Inspector General report.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should soon release its proposed 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The massive fee-schedule rule will include the estimated conversion factor CMS will use to calculate 2016 physician payments, details of the 2016 Physician Quality Reporting System and a list of the “potentially misvalued codes” CMS wants reviewed.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services opened its database this week for the public to view payments physicians and teaching hospitals received from manufacturers and group purchasing organizations. This open data is mandated under the Sunshine Act, which is a federal government transparency initiative required by the Affordable Care Act.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched the Open Payments review and dispute process July 14. It will remain open until Aug. 27. This 45-day period, which is required by provisions in the Sunshine Act, allows physicians to use their Enterprise Portal credentials to access the Open Payments System to review and dispute data submitted by applicable manufacturers and group purchasing organizations prior to public posting Sept. 30.

A new law signed by President Obama last week extends cuts to Medicare physician pay through 2024. The law extends the 2 percent cut on physician pay caused by sequestration, across-the-board cuts in federal spending, through 2024. This is the second time in two months that lawmakers have enacted legislation that is funded by extending the cut to physician pay.