Senate
Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday
released a detailed universal health coverage plan that is
"broadly compatible" with the proposal by President-elect
Barack Obama, the New
York Times reports. The plan, titled "Call to
Action, Health Reform 2009,” primarily focuses on providing
meaningful coverage and care to all Americans, emphasizing
higher quality, greater value and less costly care and weeding
out waste, eliminating overpayments and designing a sustainable
financing system. To view the full report, click
here. The ACC plans to continue to work with Baucus, the
new presidential administration and others in Congress to
ensure physicians have a seat at the table for all of these
discussions around health care reform.
REGULATORY
Register
Now: ACC, MedAxiom Webinar on New Coding Changes
In
2009, cardiovascular health care professionals will see a
fundamental shift in coding for cardiac device monitoring
services, including pacemaker and ICD interrogations and programming
sessions, remote monitoring, ICMs and ILRs. CPT 2009 includes
23 new codes for reporting these services. To help members
understand the new structure, the ACC and MedAxiom will hold
a Webinar on November 14 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EST to discuss
the changes. To register for the Webinar, go to: http://www.acc.org/advocacy/advoc_issues/medaxiom.htm.
The Webinar will also available by dialing (866) 847-7863.
CMS
to Hold E-Rx Conference Call
The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday,
Nov. 19, from 3:30 – 5 p.m. will hold a conference call
on e-prescribing. CMS staff will present an overview of Part
D e-prescribing standards, e-prescribing incentives and e-prescribing
measures. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers
Act of 2008 (MIPPA) authorizes a new and separate incentive
program for eligible professionals who successfully e-prescribe.
This program removes the e-prescribing measure from the Physician
Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) for 2009. The conference
call will be available by dialing 1 (800) 837-1935, reference
conference ID 71918357. More information about e-prescribing
is available here.
CMS
Imposes Stay on RAC Program
The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is required
to impose an automatic stay in the contract work of the Recovery
Audit Contractors (RAC) program, after two unsuccessful bidders
filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
An automatic stay will stop work for all four RAC regional
awards until GAO makes a decision on the protests. Under law,
GAO has 100 days to make a decision. More information on the
RAC program is available on the CMS Web
site.
QUALITY
Majority
of Physicians Found 2007 PQRI ‘Difficult,’ According
to AMA Survey
The
American Medical Association (AMA) has released the results
of its physician survey on the 2007 Physician Quality Reporting
Initiative (PQRI). The AMA, which collected 408 surveys online,
found that physicians were dissatisfied with the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) responsiveness
to questions about the program, had difficulties using the
feedback form and were confused about the receipt of bonus
payments. Close to 61 percent of respondents described participating
in the program as difficult.
The ACC
is working to address concerns raised by members regarding
the reporting mechanisms and feedback reports for the 2007
PQRI. The ACC is reaching out directly to CMS, as well as
communicating with congressional offices key to the program’s
authorization. The ACC will continue to work with CMS to improve
the PQRI program and address concerns so that physicians can
improve their performance moving forward. Stay tuned for more
information from the ACC this fall on the 2009 PQRI program.
This
Week in the Lewin Report: Cardiology Takes Over the
Big Easy
More
than 30,000 cardiovascular professionals were able to catch
up on the latest science at this week’s American Heart
Association (AHA) Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Visit the
“Lewin Report” blog (http://lewinreport.acc.org)
and join discussions around workforce issues, the results
of the JUPITER trial and new ACC/AHA Management of Adults
with Congenital Heart Disease guidelines – all key topics
of this year’s meeting. You can also catch the latest
coverage from the AHA meeting on www.cardiosource.com.
