CMS has launched the official website for its Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, a new department within the agency that's tasked with developing and testing new payment systems and policies that will reduce costs and improve patient outcomes.

More commonly called the "Innovation Center," this department will be a "much-needed driver of innovation aimed at improving health care for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries," said Acting Innovation Center Director, Richard Gilfillan, MD, in a prepared statement. "The center will identify and test care models that provide beneficiaries with a seamless care experience, better health and lower costs."

The center is already beginning to test several projects (read more on CMS Innovation Center) ...

CMS Administrator Don Berwick, MD, is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Wednesday. Dr. Berwick will discuss the Medicare program and the impact of the health care reform bill to the U.S. health care system, according to a release of his prepared remarks. He'll attempt defend the new law and tout its benefits.

Dr. Berwick's visit to Capitol Hill should be welcomed by senators that were deprived the chance to question him during a confirmation hearing. President Barack Obama chose to appointment Dr. Berwick to the CMS post during a summer recess, which allowed the former pediatrician to take office without having to go through the normal confirmation process. Senators criticized the president for this, noting the importance of the position that oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in health care spending every year.

This month's midterm elections saw a rousing Republican victory in Congress, upending Democrats' hold on the House of Representatives by the biggest margin in seven decades. However, the sweeping health reform law passed in March was not the primary reason voters gave for their choices, according to a new poll by the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation. Most voters said the economy was the biggest deciding factor, along with their party choice and views of the candidates themselves.

Here's the breakdown of which issue voters said was their top reason for voting as they did, according to Kaiser (read more on voters and repealing health reform) ...

DecisionHealth's Laura Evans sent along some reports from the AMA's CPT and RBRVS 2011 Annual Symposium in Chicago. We'll have a complete story with her coverage in a future issue of Part B News, but here are just a few highlights:

• You won't need to append modifier 25 (significant, separately identifiable E/M service) to the new annual wellness visit codes if billed with covered screening tests. However, if you bill a wellness visit exam with a separately identifiable E/M, you'll need to attach 25 to the E/M.
• CPT unveiled a new modifier: 33. The new modifier will be appended to new preventive services, according to Peter Hollmann, MD, AMA CPT Editorial Panel Vice Chair.
• The new subsequent observation codes (99224-99226) are designed to be reported by both the physician who initiates observation care and any other doctor who evaluates the patient, said Dr. Hollmann. For the non-initiating doctors, the AMA thinks you should report the subsequent observation codes for Medicare and the office consult codes for non-Medicare payers. It's not clear how Medicare will handle these services, and CMS officials were not being forthcoming. Medicare priced the subsequent observation codes at 75% of the fee for subsequent hospital care, according to Kenneth Simon MD, CMS Senior Medical Officer. Medicare policy currently directs physicians who didn't initiate observation care to use the office/outpatient E/M codes when evaluating a patient in observation.

The two men leading the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a draft document outlining their thoughts on cutting the national deficit and improving the federal budget. The 50-page document dedicates six pages to the Medicare program in a section titled Mandatory Budget Options.

The preliminary report represents the co-chairmen's ideas and not the consensus of the whole commission. However, physician practices should take note of where the commission might be headed when it comes to Medicare reimbursement issues. The commissioners want to fix the flawed Medicare payment formula that uses the sustainable growth rate (SGR) mechanism. But, the fix would be paid for.