House leaders unveil draft bill to repeal SGR
Congressional leaders are all but predicting the final product will win enough support from both parties to move this year. Congressional leaders on Thursday released a bipartisan bill to permanently repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula. Most media analyses note that while there is broad, bipartisan support for…
Meaningful use attestation deadline extended
Physicians now have an additional three weeks, until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on March 20, to attest to meaningful use for the 2014 reporting year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the deadline to allow physicians extra time to submit their meaningful use data. Physicians…
ABCBS and ICD-10 Coding
Representatives from ABCBS and its family of companies have been reaching out to the Arkansas provider community for more than two years about the need to be prepared for ICD-10. They have been offering providers the opportunity to perform ICD-10 testing since mid-2013. Providers are encouraged to test…
Arkansas Joins Hundreds of State and National Physician Groups Urging Congress to Fix Medicare Now
CHICAGO – More than 750 organizations joined the American Medical Association (AMA) to call on Congress to pass legislation that would permanently eliminate Medicare's flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and strengthen Medicare for America's seniors. In a letter to House and Senate leadership, the groups strongly urged…
Beebe and Thompson Receive National Recognition
WASHINGTON – Former Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe and former Arkansas Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Thompson were among the seven recipients of the 2015 Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service – the highest award for elected officials and government employees from the nation's largest physician organization. The…
Uninsured rate dropped to 13.8% nationally, 11.4% in Arkansas
The Los Angeles Times (2/25, Levey) reports that the US uninsured rate “plummeted last year, with the improvement driven by states that have fully implemented the Affordable Care Act, a new nationwide Gallup survey indicates.” The survey found that the rate of uninsured adults nationwide fell from 17.3…
Healthcare groups recommend changes to Medicare shared savings program.
Healthcare IT News (2/10) reports that in a letter to CMS Administration Marilyn Tavenner on Friday, a “who’s-who” of healthcare stakeholders recommended a number of improvements to the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Signed by nearly three dozen organizations – including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of…
Private Option Funded Through June 2016.
The AP (2/6, Demillo) reports that the Arkansas Legislature reauthorized the state’s “private option” Medicaid expansion program on Thursday, meaning the plan “will survive another year.” The Arkansas House voted 82-16 to reauthorize funding through June 2016. The measure now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), “who had…
Republican lawmakers unveil ACA replacement plan
(AMA Grand Rounds, 2-5-15) - The New York Times (2/5, A18, Pear, Subscription Publication) reports that three “influential Republican members of Congress unveiled a comprehensive proposal on Wednesday to replace President Obama’s health care overhaul with an alternative that would halt the expansion of Medicaid and scale back…
Fort Smith Museum Honors the Memory of Dr. Harry P. McDonald in New Exhibit
(SW Times Record) - In celebration of Black History Month, the Fort Smith Museum of History will add new faces to its exhibit in February at the museum, 320 Rogers Ave. Those viewing the Black HIstory Month Exhibit will learn about Dr. Harry P. McDonald, who served as…
More states embracing Medicaid expansion.
Bloomberg News (2/3) reports that Republican-led states that previously rejected Medicaid expansion under the ACA “have found a way to embrace it, under pressure from businesses to tap the flood of federal dollars it brings.” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R), for instance, called lawmakers into a special session…