Part B News | Part B News

CMS designs drastic changes to its split/shared policy

07/26/2021

Take careful notice of CMS’ proposed split/shared visit policy if your practice’s physicians and qualified health care professionals (QHP) regularly team up for hospital visits. CMS’ plans for split/shared visits in 2022 bear little resemblance to the original policy.

CMS proposes a 4% rate cut; opposition gets vocal

07/26/2021

by: Richard Scott

It didn’t take long for critics to lambast the proposed 3.75% reduction to the conversion factor after CMS announced its rate-setting plans July 13.

Digital access: CMS will allow mental health patients to stay online, mulls extensions

07/26/2021

by: Roy Edroso

CMS may keep at least some of the codes it allowed for telehealth during the public health emergency (PHE) through the end of 2023, and patients receiving mental health services via telehealth will be eligible for the digital services longer than that.

Big lift before MVP transition, with fewer quality measures, higher threshold

07/26/2021

by: Roy Edroso

Your practice may be relieved that the debut of the new MIPS Value Pathways (MVP) model for the Quality Payment Program/Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (QPP/MIPS) has been pushed back again in the proposed 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule. But don’t relax too much: A massive 15-point lift in the MIPS performance threshold will make the last year of the current MIPS structure challenging anyway.

Limits proposed for teaching physician billing

07/26/2021

by: Richard Scott

You will find a couple of key revisions to the billing rules for teaching physicians should certain pieces of the proposed 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule take hold as planned.

Physician assistants would be paid directly under Part B

07/26/2021

by: Laura Evans CPC

CMS proposes to begin direct payment to physician assistants (PA) for professional services they provide. Right now, Medicare can only make payment to the PA’s employer or provider for whom the PA is a contractor. Under the proposal, mandated by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 that passed in December 2020, PAs would also be able to accept or reassign payment for their services.

Shared Savings ACOs get a year off from electronic clinical quality measures

07/26/2021

by: Roy Edroso

After their first year of using the Alternative Payment Model (APM) Performance Pathway (APP) reporting method, participants in the Shared Savings program are spared further challenges as CMS delays the full transition to electronic clinical quality measures (eCQM) and MIPS clinical quality measures (MIPS CQM) and scales back some program requirements.

Fee schedule round-up: Payment and policy updates

07/26/2021

by: DecisionHealth Staff

Don’t miss out on other important updates contained in the proposed 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule.

2022 fee tally: Winners and losers under the proposed physician fee schedule

07/26/2021

by: Richard Scott

As providers brace for a nearly 4% cut to the 2022 conversion factor, the impact of relative value unit (RVU) changes on specialties fluctuates from a 10% gain for portable X-ray suppliers to a -9% drop for interventional radiology.

Login

User Name:
Password:
Remember me Forgot password
Welcome to the new Part B News Online. If you are a returning user having trouble logging in, please click here.