You and your peers may be able avoid the 1% e-Prescribing (e-Rx) Medicare payment penalty if you qualify for one of CMS’s new proposed hardship exemptions outlined in its May 26 proposed rule. If finalized, the wil give providers a more flexible timeline and more options to claim a hardship exemption for not being able to meet the e-Rx requirement by June 30. 

CMS is launching three new initiatives relating to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that have nothing to do with the ACO proposed rule, but come instead from the agency's new Innovation Center. Remember: The Innovation Center was established by the health reform law as a testing ground for new Medicare payment models aimed at curbing the unsustainable cost of the nation's priciest entitlement program.

Republican lawmakers are far from unified on a controversial House of Representatives bill masterminded by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that would essentially replace the current Medicare program with a system of subsidies to seniors for buying private insurance in 2022. The latest sign of dissension comes in the form of a Republican budget proposal in the Senate, from Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), that would leave Medicare unscathed.

President Obama faces opposition from both Republicans and Democrats on the Independent Physicians Advisory Board (IPAB) -- the most potent cost-cutting tool in the health reform law. Remember: The IPAB, which would be composed of physicians, would have the power to set Medicare payments for services based on comparative effectiveness research. The IPAB would, for example, be able to have Medicare pay less for procedures that are shown to be less effective. 

The Obama Administration is pushing for a mandatory training requirement for doctors prescribing narcotics in an effort to curb the nation’s prescription painkillers epidemic.