Category: Members
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Outpatient Visit Evaluation & Management Changes for 2021
For more than 25 years, the American Medical Association has utilized the 1995 or 1997 guidelines for Evaluation and Management (E/M) services in the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). The E/M codes have expanded over the years but until now, there has been no update to the elements, in which, we choose a level of service.…
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Call for Elective Offices
The following are positions for offices in the Medical Association which will be elected at the 2020 Business Session. Nominations for statewide offices are presented through a Nominating Committee process. District offices (*) are nominated from district caucuses. Qualified candidates shall have been regular, government or academic employee members of the association for at least…
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PEEHIP Transitioning to Humana Effective January 1st
Medicare-eligible retirees of the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Plan (PEEHIP) will be moving to the Humana Group Medicare Advantage Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan for their healthcare coverage, effective January 1, 2020. Humana will be hosting a series of webinars as they lead up to the PEEHIP transition on January 1st. These will be…
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Closing Your Medical Practice – Calling it Quits!
There is a lot of media attention to “Baby Boomers” retiring with more than 10,000 leaving the workplace every day. Anyone closing a business has a list of items to address before selling the business or closing the doors, but there is a unique set of considerations when a physician practice owner elects to retire…
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Doctors Unite in Support of Physician Office Exemption
We called and you answered! Thank you to all the physicians who answered the urgent call-to-action and quickly signed on to the Medical Association letter (more than 600 doctors to date!) challenging the Alabama Hospital Association (ALAHA) and its member facilities’ contentions about the appropriateness of the physician office exemption (POE) from CON review. As you know,…
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Fraud and Abuse Facelift: Proposed Changes to Stark, AKS, and Beneficiary Inducements CMP
As part of its “Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released proposals to modernize the Medicare Physician Self-Referral Law (“Stark Law”), Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”), and Beneficiary Inducements Civil Money Penalty (“CMP”) (collectively, the “Proposed Rules”). The Proposed…
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Medical Association Opposes Scope of Practice Expansion Executive Order
President Trump issued an executive order on October 3, 2019 as an alternative to “Medicare for All”. Initially, the order was titled “Protecting Medicare From Socialist Destruction” but was changed to “Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s Seniors.” The executive order does include some items that the Medical Association of the State of Alabama…
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CMS Is Expanding Its Enforcement Ability
Pursuant to a new rule, entitled Program Integrity Enhancements to the Provider Enrollment Process, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) is expanding its ability to combat fraud and abuse within the healthcare industry. Under the new rule, CMS will be able to identify individuals and entities that pose a fraud and abuse risk…
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Guidance on Practice and Ethical Issues
The Medical Association’s Office of General Counsel can help guide members on certain practice and ethical issues. The Office is comprised of the General Counsel, Cheairs Porter, and Paralegal, Angela Barentine. The General Counsel is the chief legal advisor to the Board of Censors, and provides legal advice daily to the Executive Director. Mr. Porter,…
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All Things 401(K): Participants Education, Plan Structure and Assessments
The ultimate goal of any retirement plan is for participants to prepare for retirement, but Physicians must also maintain the appropriate structure of the plan. How can you be sure everything is handled correctly? Below, one of our 401(k) plan experts, Jack Adams, answers a few frequently asked questions about 401(k) plan education, structure and…