President Donald Trump announced via tweet Nov. 13 that he would nominate Alex Azar as the next HHS secretary. “He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!” the president said.

If providers at your practice implant neurostimulator electrode arrays, you could be in for a financial windfall in 2018. But if you perform a lot of allergy scratch tests, you’ll likely take a hit.

Take note of the news that happens between Part B News issues by checking out the free Part B News Blog. Here’s a sampling from recent days:

Expect to see significant changes to the way you report E/M services but don’t start changing your in-office policies and procedures just yet — revisions and updates that would supersede the current 1995 and 1997 guidelines appear to be at least a year or two away.

Clinicians who are adept at quality performance will have no trouble adjusting to the faster pace CMS has set for 2018. In addition, clinicians who improve their performance on two metrics next year will get extra credit that may help them avoid the pay cut. However, all eligible clinicians need to watch out for cost, which is making an early return.

CMS will set payments for certain services performed by off-campus provider-based departments (PBDs) at 40% of the hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) rate next year, down from 50% this year — effectively cutting their fees by 20%. The agency had originally proposed to cut next year’s payments to 25% of OPPS rates.

There’s good news for veterans of the physician quality reporting system: getting full credit for the quality leg of the merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) should be a snap in 2018. CMS made minimal changes to the program this year, which will free clinicians to concentrate on improvement activities or explore options such as virtual groups.