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CMS gives you time to get to know 5 new patient relationship modifiers

07/24/2017

Continuous and broad or episodic and focused. Those are two definitions of a provider-patient relationship. Next year, CMS intends to give doctors and some non-physician practitioners the opportunity to test drive modifiers that indicate the relationship.

Changes to patient assignment, primary care services in Shared Savings Program

07/24/2017

by: Roy Edroso

Check out a variety of changes CMS plans to make to the Shared Savings Program in the proposed 2018 Medicare physician fee schedule.

Some provider-based outpatient departments could see facility rates cut in half

07/24/2017

by: Laura Evans, CPC

CMS is proposing to set payments for certain services performed by non-exempt off-campus provider-based hospital outpatient departments at 25% of the hospital outpatient prospective payment rate next year, down from 50% this year.

Payment, policy and coding proposals from the 2018 physician fee schedule proposed rule

07/24/2017

by: Part B News staff

There’s a lot going on in the 815-page rule. We’ve explored the big stories in this issue. Check out a round-up of other, easy-to-miss changes worth noting.

Revised health bill scuttled as more Republican senators voice opposition

07/24/2017

by: John Commins with additional reporting by Richard Scott and Roy Edroso

Senate Republicans unveiled their revised plan July 13 to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in a version that scrapped a tax cut for the wealthy, increased subsidies for individual coverage, dropped the individual mandate and allowed insurers to offer no-frills plans.

11 specialty groups set for pay boost in 2018; 23 may see cuts

07/24/2017

by: Richard Scott with additional reporting by Laura Evans, CPC

Clinical social workers, psychologists and podiatrists are among 11 specialty groups slated to receive additional payments for their services in 2018, according to projected allowed charges contained in the proposed 2018 Medicare physician fee schedule.

NotPetya computer hack a warning to get serious about IT security

07/17/2017

by: Roy Edroso

As a new computer hack hits health care facilities, experts advise you to tighten up security – not just in expected ways, but also in areas such as password and permission management.

Physician burnout rates not getting any better

07/17/2017

Though physician burnout rates appear to be leveling off, the percentage of physicians reporting symptoms of burnout is still higher than 50% in most studies. While it may not be getting worse, the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Give your vaccine rates a booster shot to improve health, reduce missed revenue

07/17/2017

by: Richard Scott

Set automatic alerts in your electronic health record (EHR) and strike the right tone with your patients to encourage higher immunization rates and cut back on costly complications — and ace a merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS) quality measure, too.

Physician burnout studies show more of the same

07/17/2017

Several recent studies have found that physician burnout is linked to multiple causes, with excessive administrative work related to electronic health records (EHR) and to quality reporting leading the way.

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