Are You an Advocate for Your Patients… Your Profession?
AMS has a lot on its plate. We will be asking legislators to file numerous bills that address issues and concerns affecting your practice and your profession. We will be fighting a mountain of legislation that threaten or interfere with your practice and how you take care of…
DEA Reverses Announced Change to Registration Renewal Process
Late yesterday afternoon (December 27), the DEA reversed its decision and posted a notice that it is retaining its current policy and procedures, with one minor change, regarding registration renewals. The revised announcement states the following: REVISED ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING RENEWAL APPLICATIONS Starting January 2017, DEA will no longer…
Medical Marijuana Amendment
AMS has received numerous calls from physicians asking about the recently passed medical marijuana amendment. While AMS was and remains opposed to the amendment, AMS members should be aware of the implications and responsibilities associated with the law. There are numerous regulatory hurdles that must be completed prior…
MACRA Update Regarding Removal of Social Security Numbers
CMS has announced that the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015, requires the removal of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare beneficiary cards by April 2019. A new randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) on…
QualChoice Plan Change
QualChoice of Arkansas has contacted AMS with information regarding a change to Individual Metallic Insurance Plans. Beginning January 1, 2017, all members of QualChoice individual metallic plans (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Catastrophic) will be in the QualChoice Select Network. These plans will require the insured to choose a…
MACRA Update
AMS will continue to provide our physicians with updates on MACRA as new information becomes available. The AMA has some resources here. Below are some other resources you might find helpful: MACRA website - Includes a checklist with steps practices can take now to prepare, an action kit and…
Final MACRA Rule Expands Exemptions, Flexibility
Nearly a third of physicians could be exempt from Medicare's new merit-based incentive payment system under a final rule CMS issued on October 14, 2016, for implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). CMS heeded the concerns of small practices and Congress about the framework's impact on…
Issue 4 Disqualified from November Ballot
Thursday Oct 13, 2016 - AMS has just learned that the Arkansas Supreme Court has disqualified the AMS supported tort reform amendment (Issue 4) from the November ballot. Two separate lawsuits were filed with the Court in an effort to keep Arkansas’s voters from deciding whether there should be…
Stories, More Than Statistics, Help Convince Scared Parents to Immunize Their Children
From Arkansas Medical News, AUTHOR Becky Gillette The failure of parents to vaccinate their children can be caused by concern that the vaccinations cause autism. Although that link has been thoroughly disproven by dozens of scientific studies, some parents remain scared to vaccinate their children. Bryan L. Burke, Jr., MD,…
Malpractice: Primary & Secondary Prevention
From Arkansas Medical News, author: Cindy Sanders Part art, part science delivered by imperfect humans and impacted by hundreds of variables from a tiny protein on a gene to an individual’s age and socioeconomic status – the practice of medicine is anything but predictable. In a high-stakes field where…
AMS Board takes positions on ballot issues and approves new member benefits
Tort Reform Amendment - The Board authorized spending up to $250,000 in support of a constitutional amendment that would (a) limit plaintiff attorney fees, and (b) place a cap of no less than $250,000 per defendant on non-economic damages. The amendment is currently under review by the Arkansas…