Year: 2018
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Senior Physicians: We Need Your Voices!
Any physician that has reached the age of 65 is considered by the American Medical Association and the Medical Association to be a Senior Physician, even if you are not currently working in a medical practice. That does not mean your voice cannot still work for the House of Medicine. Did you know the Medical…
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MEDICAID ALERT: Federal Rule Change for Prenatal Claims
The passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 requires states to “cost avoid” claims for prenatal services when there is a known liable third party. Prior to this change, states were federally required to “pay and chase” claims with a designated prenatal procedure or diagnosis code. The federal “pay and chase” provision enabled providers…
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E/M Code Changes: A Deeper Dive at What Could be Coming for 2021
This is the second in a series of articles reviewing notable changes in the 2019 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule and provides a deeper discussion of the potential changes to the E/M Coding regime scheduled to take effect in 2021. For the original article, please see Evaluating and Managing the E/M Codes for 2019 and…
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Patient Satisfaction: What Is It Really Worth?
In previous years, patient satisfaction discussions pertained only to patient surveys and results. Some managers believe surveys are utilized by specialties, such as plastic surgery practices that primarily operate on a cash basis. However, consumerism is here to stay! Cost and quality will create a level playing field in health care and increase the importance…
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CMS Announces New Medicaid Opportunity to Expand Mental Health Treatment Services
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently sent a letter to State Medicaid Directors outlining existing and new opportunities for states to design innovative service delivery systems for adults with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbance. The letter includes a new opportunity for states to receive authority to pay for short-term…
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BCBS Alabama to No Longer Cover OxyContin Beginning in 2019
BIRMINGHAM, AL – Effective Jan. 1, 2019, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama will no longer cover OxyContin for members with the exception of Blue Advantage members. This is in response to concerns for members’ care and safety. Since 2015, opioid prescriptions in the U.S. and in Alabama have declined. Over the last two years,…
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Can I Get a Witness? Do You Use Chaperones in the Exam Room?
In 2018, the world of sports was rocked with the revelation that Larry Nassar, a physician for USA Gymnastics, used medical examinations as a pretext to molest nearly three hundred female gymnasts over a twenty-year period. Many of these young athletes were abused while their parents were in the examination room. News coverage of the…
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Largest Pediatric Study Shows Obesity Increases Asthma Risk in Children
ORLANDO – Ten percent of pediatric asthma cases could be avoided if childhood obesity were eliminated, according to research led by Nemours Children’s Health System. The research, published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, reported on the analysis of medical records of more than 500,000 children. The study is among the…
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Overshadowed by Opioids, Meth is Back and Hospitalizations Surge
The number of people hospitalized because of amphetamine use is skyrocketing in the United States, but the resurgence of the drug largely has been overshadowed by the nation’s intense focus on opioids. Amphetamine-related hospitalizations jumped by about 245 percent from 2008 to 2015, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That…