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'Tis the season to stretch our gaze ahead to the new year -- and the new or revised Part B policies just days away from making a real impact on your bottom line.

CMS hit the brakes on making imminent changes to the oft-used E/M code set that’s tied to billions of dollars in medical practice revenue. Streamlined payment rates are off the table for 2019, as are vast documentation revisions, according to the 2,378-page final 2019 Medicare physician fee schedule released Nov. 1. Once you’ve read through our detailed breaking news, take our quick, confidential survey to share your opinion.
By this time next week, we should know the answer to a question that has been on the minds of health care stakeholders since July:
 
What in the world will CMS do with E/M visits?
The proposed E/M payment changes that CMS floated last month are meeting with widespread criticism, with veteran physicians and other stakeholders calling for the agency to rethink its approach.
It’s no secret that claims-based quality measure reporting is very popular with practices, but not with CMS. The 2019 Medicare proposed physician fee schedule contains the agency's latest attempt to shift more practices to other methods that are less burdensome and expensive for the agency to administer.

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