AMS and AMA Seek Intervention to Support Peer Review Fairness Act
On June 10th, Baptist Health Medical System, Washington Regional Medical Center, and Mercy Health System filed suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court arguing that the Peer Review Fairness Act of 2013 is unconstitutional because it: is preempted by federal law; treats hospitals differently than other similarly situated healthcare…
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.…
Credentialing Process Issues
Recently AMS has received calls regarding the credentialing of physicians with carrier networks. Complaints seem to be about the length of time it takes for a carrier to complete the credentialing process thus delaying payment for physician services. If your practice has experienced long delays in this process,…
AMS’ Newest Resource
Gloria Boone, CPC, CPHIT, CPEHR, has joined the Arkansas Medical Society team. Gloria will serve as Physician Outreach Specialist, helping member physicians and their practices with the Arkansas Payment Improvement Initiative (APII). Working on contract from the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, she will provide members with information…
UAMS Receives Funds to Train Primary Care Providers
The UAMS Family Medicine program in Little Rock has received an award of $900,000 in Affordable Care Act funding. Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $83.4 million has been provided to support primary care residency programs in 60 Teaching Health Centers across the nation. Nationally, the funding will…
ICD-10 Compliance Date
In a recent news bulletin from CMS, AMS learned that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects to release an interim final rule in the near future that will include a new compliance date that would require the use of ICD-10 beginning October 1, 2015. AMS…
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…
HIV diagnosis rates drop by a third over past 10 years.
Article from AMA Mourning Rounds, 7-22-14. USA Today (7/20, Graham) reported that according to research presented at the International AIDS Conference and in a research letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “the rate of diagnosis for HIV infections has fallen in the United States…
CDC report: 46 people die from Rx painkiller overdose each day
Article from AMA Wire, 7/7/2014, 10:02 AM The prescription drug overdose epidemic claims nearly four dozen lives in the United States every day, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Meanwhile, states are considering a number of different policy options to…
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…