Medical Association of the State of Alabama

Category: Uncategorized

  • MACRA 911: What Questions Should You Be Asking Right Now?

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    While there is still no official start date confirmed for MACRA, and a final rule expected to be published Nov. 1, physicians continue to be on edge about the timing of this new program, which is set to replace the sustainable growth rate formula for payment adjustments under Medicare. With November just around the corner,…

  • MACRA 911: Physicians Will Have More Flexibility

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    MACRA will begin on Jan. 1, 2017, and according to CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt physicians will have more options to comply and avoid a negative payment adjustment in 2019. The announcement comes after intense pressure from industry stakeholders and policymakers to ease implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which is set…

  • Letter to the Editor: Ever Been Bitten by a Killer Whale?

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    Dear Editor, Ever been bitten by a killer whale? Have you sustained burns while waterskiing? Been hit by a spaceship? Know someone who was sucked into a jet engine more than once? Though these sound bizarre, if a new and controversial medical coding system goes into place a year from now, those are exactly the…

  • ICD-10: Headache for Doctors; Heartache for Patients

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    *Below is the letter Medical Association and President Ronald Franks sent to Alabama’s Congressional Delegation urging support to delaying implementation of ICD-10 until October 2017.. Jan. 7, 2015 Dear Alabama Congressional Delegation; On behalf of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama and our more than 7,000 physician members, we urge you to support…

  • Alabama Physician Lone ICD-10 Dissenter During Congressional Hearing

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    MONTGOMERY – As the lone voice for physicians in a room filled with insurance company and hospital representatives, Jeff Terry, M.D., a Mobile urologist, urged a Congressional panel not to implement a massive revision to medical coding known as ICD-10, which he believes could force doctors out of business and threaten patients’ access to medical…

  • Flawed Implementation of ICD-10 Less than Six Months Away

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    *Editor’s Note: The following is a special editorial from Dr. Jeff Terry, past president of the Medical Association, who has closely followed ICD-10 and testified before Congress concerning the need to delay implementation to mitigate the negative effects on medical practices. Please don’t discount the cry for help coming from more than 90 percent of the physicians in this…

  • Bill in U.S. House Would #StopICD10

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    Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex.), supported by six of his Republican colleagues including Rep. Mike Rogers (R.-Ala.) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R.-Ala.), has introduced a bill to block the government-mandated transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnostic codes set to take effect Oct. 1. Dubbed the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015, the legislation would prohibit the…

  • ICD-10 Switch Will Cause Problems in the ER

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    <iframe src=”//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-TZX8XN” height=”0″ width=”0″ style=”display:none;visibility:hidden”></iframe>Researchers found 27 percent of the 1,830 commonly used emergency room ICD-9 codes had convoluted mappings that could create problems with reporting or reimbursement. Further, they found that when they looked at more than 24,000 actual clinical encounters in the ER, 23 percent could be assigned incorrect codes if recommendations of…

  • State Lawmakers Urge Congress to Delay ICD-10

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    MONTGOMERY ─ An Alabama Senate Joint Resolution urging Congress to delay the mandated implementation of ICD-10 on Oct. 1 and lessen the burden on Alabama’s medical practices was enacted this week. “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is forcing this unfunded mandate on the health care community, and it couldn’t come at a worse…

  • Association Supports Rep. Palmer’s ICD-10 “Grace Period” Bill

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    The Medical Association of the State of Alabama has endorsed H.R. 2652 by Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL-06), which will protect patients’ access to care and lessen the burden on physicians, particularly in rural and smaller practices. The “Protecting Patients and Physicians Against Coding Act” would give physicians a two-year grace period in which they would…