CMS has made good on its promise to publish a list of all providers who have received a revalidation letter. The first wave of revalidations was sent out in late September, and consisted of 89,000 providers nationwide. This most recent list includes 105,053 providers, and was uploaded Nov. 17 on the CMS website.

After months of debate, the FDA is officially revoking its approval of Avastin as an effective breast cancer treatment, according to a Nov. 18 news release.

The embattled cancer drug failed to show its benefits outweighed risks, including high blood pressure and heart failure, or improve quality of life in clinical trials, the FDA cites in the release. 

In one week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers dubbed the “Super Committee” must release a plan that cuts federal spending by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. If they don’t come up with something, or if Congress fails to approve the plan they release, you can expect automatic across-the-board federal cuts, including a 2% cut to your Medicare physician pay starting in 2013. This amount would be on top of the 27.4% pay cut set to hit Jan. 1, 2012.

There has been much confusion surrounding the HIPAA 5010 requirements for anesthesia services. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has released guidance on the matter.

IMPORTANT: Surgical code is not required for anesthesia claims. “The new standards allow anesthesiologists to submit surgical codes if they want to do so, but does not require this,” the ASA writes on its website. “The ASA is working with X12 and payers to clarify these new requirements and the limits to which payers can require additional information on claim forms.”

You’ve barely had time to process the new material in the 2012 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, but some of your peers are already blasting CMS for making annual wellness visits (AWVs) tougher to bill. The new component to the AWV is called the health risk assessment (HRA). Problem is, the AWV was already confusing to patients because it’s too restricting, includes no physical exam and is different from what patients and providers are used to as far as a “physical,” one angry caller told CMS during the agency’s latest open door call Nov. 7.