Tag: Medicare
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Proposed 2023 physician pay schedule deepens Medicare’s instability
The Medical Association is working with the AMA and many national specialty societies to analyze and comment on CMS proposed 2023 fee schedule. The following article was prepared by the AMA and outlines efforts to address problems that have been identified with the proposed fee schedule: After a thorough analysis, the AMA has weighed in with…
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Medical Association Endorses Refinements to Improve MACRA
Since the enactment of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, many organizations have worked with Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to promote a smooth implementation of the two payment models. Although MACRA is an improvement over the flawed sustainable growth rate payment model, its implementation has been flawed. The Medical…
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Medical Association Signs on to Letter Targeting PA Requirements
The Medical Association recently joined the American Medical Association and 85 other national medical groups and state medical associations in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to urge CMS to provide guidance to Medicare Advantage plans on prior authorization processes through its 2020 Call Letter. In the jointly signed letter,…
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Navigate the New Medicare ID Transition in Nine Steps
Due to a legislative mandate in MACRA passed in 2015, Medicare will no longer use Social Security numbers to identify individuals. Instead, a new randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will be assigned to all 58 million Medicare recipients. New Medicare ID cards containing the MBI are currently being sent to recipients. The MBI replaces…
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Brookwood Baptist Medical Center Medicare Certification Extended
Brookwood Baptist Medical Center, the second largest hospital in the metro Birmingham area, received an 11th-hour reprieve Thursday night with regulators from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services accepted the facility’s action, thus allowing the hospital to continue its Medicare and Medicaid billing privileges. However, the facility is not out hot water just yet.…
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CMS Publishes 2019 Physician Fee Schedule
UPDATED JULY 27, 2018: CMS Overhauls Office Visit Pay In Proposed 2019 Physician Fee Rule CMS is proposing to overhaul how Medicare pays for office visits and how doctors document those visits in what Administrator Seema Verma said would be “one of the most significant reductions in provider burden ever taken by any administration.” The change,…
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CMS Issues Final Rule on 2018 Medicare Reimbursement
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a final rule that includes updates to payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after Jan. 1, 2018. Background on the Physician Fee Schedule Payment is made under the PFS for services furnished by…
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CMS Reveals New Medicare Card Design; Strengthens Fraud Protections
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has redesigned its Medicare card to remove Social Security numbers and use a unique, randomly-assigned number in an effort to better protect users from identity theft and fraud. CMS will begin mailing the new cards to people with Medicare benefits in April 2018 to meet the statutory deadline…
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Fewer Physicians Could Be Audited under a New CMS Program
Fewer physicians will undergo audits under a new Medicare claims review process, according to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announcement. CMS will roll out a new approach to claims review nationwide targeting fewer providers and requiring review of fewer claims. The new policy, to take effect later this year, makes it less likely…
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Physicians Maintain High Standards
By the time this article goes to print, a lot could change, so there’s no apparent use in guessing what will come of the next Repeal and Replace efforts or what’s happening at Main Justice. Nobody knows. The only certainties from Washington are that there will be change in the payment and insurance models, and…