10 Medicare payment policy revisions you need to know
Chances are you haven't been able to read through the nearly 1,200 pages that constitute the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule released Oct. 31 and published last Thursday in the Federal Register. We've pulled out the 10 top payment policy changes discussed in this mammoth document…
Technical Error Involving PCP Supplemental Payments
It has come to the attention of AMS that many Medicaid primary care physicians were not fully reimbursed for their quarterly Medicaid PCP Supplemental Payments that processed in July. To address the issue, Medicaid is generating payments to the physicians in the amounts they are due. The payment…
CMS Grants Relief for Stage 3 Meaningful-Use
CMS recently finalized a rule allowing eligible providers more flexibility in how they meet the third stage of meaningful-use requirements for the electronic health-record incentive program. The rule would grant providers a longer timeline and more flexibility in meeting the incentive goals laid out by the stimulus program…
Hospitals’ data loss touches 4.5 million, includes Arkansans
Article from Arkansas Online. Community Health System said Monday that information belonging to patients in Arkansas was stolen when its systems were hacked and records of 4.5 million patients were compromised. Some nonmedical identification data from patients of doctors affiliated with eight of the 10 CHS hospitals in…
Medicaid enrollment grows even in states that have not embraced expansion.
The New York Times (8/12, Sanger-Katz, Subscription Publication) reports that “even in states that haven’t changed their Medicaid programs, nearly a million people signed up for Medicaid this year.” Health experts say that the “reason is a phenomenon” called the “welcome mat effect” or “woodwork effect,” the idea…
ARKANSAS SEES SHARPEST DROP IN UNINSURED RATE IN THE NATION
LITTLE ROCK - A Gallup report released Tuesday (Aug 5, 2014) shows that Arkansas outpaced the rest of the country in reducing the rate of uninsured residents during the first six months of 2014. Arkansas's uninsured rate fell from 22.5% at the end of 2013 to 12.4% midway…
AFMC Partners with Aledade – An Independent Physician Focused ACO
The Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care (AFMC) and Aledade, an accountable care organization led by the former head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, have announced plans to work together in establishing an ACO consisting of independent family physicians from around the state.…
Novitas Changes Mailing Address
AMS would like to remind all physicians that effective July 25, 2014, mail received at the Camp Hill PO Boxes/addresses will no longer be forwarded to the Mechanicsburg PO Boxes/addresses. Please begin using the appropriate Mechanicsburg PO Boxes/addresses for Arkansas listed below: Novitas Solutions ATTN: Part B…
8 things you should know about Medicare’s proposed payment rule
Article from AMA Wire, 7/18/2014, 2:10 PM. If the policies set forth in the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule take effect, physicians will be in for a lot of changes—many of them unfavorable—next year. Here are the top eight things that you should know: 1. A…
Avoid 2016 Medicare penalty: Use a registry for quality reporting
Article from AMA Wire, 7/7/2014, 10:00 AM Physicians who don’t successfully report for Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) this year will face a 2 percent payment penalty in 2016. One of the ways to report is through clinical registries, for which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…
Texarkana illustrating how health care law is altering US economic geography
In a front page story, the New York Times (6/9, A1, Lowrey, Subscription Publication) reports that in Texarkana, the state line between Texas and Arkansas is a serious healthcare divide, as Arkansas has expanded Medicaid and Texas has not. The Times says that “none of the low-income Texarkana…