ACC
Resources for Physician Fee Schedule Cuts The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released
its 2010
Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, which includes
policy proposals that significantly reduce payments for cardiovascular-related
services. Because of your efforts to date, we have succeeded
in buying a little time with its four year phase in for some
of the cuts. However, whether immediate or spread out over
time, these cuts are simply unacceptable.
The ACC
understands the very real impacts these cuts will have on
practice viability and patient access to quality cardiovascular
care and is exploring all regulatory, legislative and legal
options and are working to provide tools and resources to
help practices survive in this challenging new environment.
We will need your tireless support during this battle. Take
action by:
Getting
up to date on what's included in the final rule. Slides
from ACC's Nov. 12 all-member call about the rule and its
impacts are available.
Assessing
the basic impacts of the cuts by using ACC's practice
expense calculator. You can also get specifics on new
coding changes, as well as answers to frequently asked questions,
on the practice
management section of ACC's Web site.
Spreading
the message within your community and with your elected
officials about the specific impacts of these cuts on your
practice and your patients. Send
a letter to your members of Congress asking them to
stop the cuts.
Medicare
Enrollment Period Extended Changes
under the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule
affect the enrollment period for participation in the Medicare
program. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
has extended the 2010 Annual Participation Enrollment Program
end date from Dec. 31 to Jan. 31, 2010. The effective date
for any participation status change will remain Jan. 1, 2010,
and stay in effect for the year. The Participation Agreement
(CMS-Form 460) is available on the CD-ROM that is sent out
annually by Medicare contractors during the annual participation
enrollment period. The agreements also should appear of the
Web sites of Medicare contractors.
2008
PQRI Reports Results Released The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently
announced the results for the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting
Initiative (PQRI). More than 85,000 physicians and other eligible
professionals who satisfactorily reported quality-related
data to Medicare under the 2008 PQRI received incentive payments
totaling more than $92 million. The average incentive amount
for individual professionals was over $1,000, with the largest
payment to an eligible professional totaling over $98,000.
Eligible
professionals who participated in the 2008 PQRI can access
confidential feedback reports that aggregate the data they
submitted across all practices with which they are associated.
The reports also show eligible professionals how they compare
with other participants across the country who submitted the
same measures. CMS redesigned these reports for 2008 based
on feedback from national stakeholder focus groups. For information
on how to access your report, visit www.acc.org/practicemanagement.
FDA
News Updates FDA
on Tuesday notified health care professionals of new safety
information concerning an interaction between clopidogrel
(Plavix) and omeprazole (Prilosec/Prilosec OTC). New data
show that when clopidogrel and omeprazole are taken together,
the effectiveness of clopidogrel is reduced. Separating the
dose of clopidogrel and omeprazole in time will not reduce
this drug interaction. Other drugs that are expected to have
a similar effect and should be avoided in combination with
clopidogrel include: cimetidine, fluconazole, ketoconazole,
voriconazole, etravirine, felbamate, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine,
and ticlopidine. Learn more from the MedWatch
summary.
Cardiovascular
Systems, Inc., and FDA have notified health care professionals
of a nationwide recall of all lots of the ViperSheath Sheath
Introducer on behalf of Thomas Medical due to reports about
stretching or fracture of the sheath during use. In the event
of a device fracture, separated segments of the device may
require unplanned open surgery to remove the retained segments
or control bleeding. The recall encompasses products distributed
from March 25, 2009 to October 21, 2009. Read the MedWatch
summary.
