The newest funding package reduces the latest cut to Medicare reimbursement from 3.4% to 1.68%. Although rheumatologists are faring better under Medicare in 2024, broader reforms remain the ACR’s highest priority regarding Medicare payments to physicians.
ACR Hill Visits Yield Key Bill Support; Plus Medicare, Biosimilar Wins
Greetings from Washington, D.C., where ACR leaders just held more than 100 meetings on Capitol Hill supporting reforms to step therapy and prior authorization, increased reimbursement for dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), solutions to the rheumatology workforce shortage, and rheumatology-specific research at the Pentagon. We’re already hearing great news about our successes: Hours after our visit,…
MACRA Has Arrived—& What You Do Now Counts
Changes to reimbursement introduced by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) will affect your Medicare income for 2019. “Rheumatologists generally know that MACRA is up and running,” says Angus Worthing, MD, FACR, FACP, clinical assistant professor of rheumatology at Georgetown University Medical Center and chair of the ACR’s Government Affairs Committee. “Virtually every…
Hospitals May Face Bigger Penalties for Readmissions Than Deaths
(Reuters Health)—Medicare penalties are tied to fewer repeat hospitalizations for some common health problems, but a new study suggests current policy doesn’t encourage hospitals in the U.S. to focus on preventable deaths. Researchers examined nationwide data for both deaths and readmissions within 30 days of discharge for three common problems: heart failure, pneumonia and heart…
The Fight Against the Medicare Part B Demonstration Project
The ACR and 315 other organizations have publicly said savings would not be achieved by the demonstration project and that it will reduce access to care for patients…
Proposed CMS Physician Fee Schedule May Offer Slight Increases
All eyes are on the new physician fee schedule proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which will be finalized this year and go into effect Jan. 1. The ACR is reviewing the proposal and will be providing comments and recommendations to CMS. And many rheumatologists have payment and coding questions: Will…
Medicare Telemedicine Underuse May Not Be Due to Reimbursement Policies
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Contrary to previous research, mandating commercial insurance reimbursement of telemedicine was not associated with faster growth in Medicare telemedicine use, according to a newly published study. Dr. Ateev Mehrotra of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues examined trends in telemedicine utilization by Medicare from 2004–2013 using claims from a 20% random sample…
The Quality Movement Explained
“To Err is Human,” published by the Institute of Medicine in 1999, set off a firestorm of quality initiatives when it announced that at least 44,000 to 98,000 people die in hospitals every year because of medical errors. The first quality initiatives, which were aimed at hospitals, have now trickled down to physician practices. For two years there have been reports of payors moving to a pay-for-performance system or value-based purchasing.