QIO for Florida, is your
collaborative, quality
improvement partner
including nursing homes,
home health agencies,
hospitals, physicians
and managed care
organizations.
|
October
Flu Shot
Reminder
Vaccinate Early to Protect Against the Flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a yearly flu vaccination as the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses. Medicare pays for the flu vaccine and its administration for seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries with no co-pay or deductible. This year's vaccine will protect against three different flu viruses, including the H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last flu season. Take advantage of each office visit and start protecting your patients as soon as your 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine arrives. And, don't forget to immunize yourself and your staff. Get Your Flu Vaccine - Not the Flu.
Remember - Influenza vaccine plus its administration are covered Part B benefits. Note that influenza vaccine is NOT a Part D covered drug. For information about Medicare's coverage of the influenza vaccine and its administration, as well as related educational resources for health care professionals and their staff, please visit:
|
| DATA
POINTS
What Percentage of Organizations Plan to Seek 'Meaningful Use' Incentive Payments?
 Seventy-seven percent of health IT professionals surveyed indicated that their organization will attempt to qualify for the "meaningful use" incentive payment program, while 3% were unsure, according to a new survey from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.
read more.... |
National Breast
Cancer
Awareness
Month
National
Mammography
Day
click here... |
|
Greetings!
Welcome to the October 2010 edition of Health eNotes: |
October 
|
|
BREAST CANCER
NEWS
Breast Cancer Study: Increasing Awareness & Improving Treatments More Effective than Mammograms in Reducing Death Rate
On Sept. 23, The New York Times reported that a new study suggests increased awareness and improved treatments - rather than mammograms - are the main force in reducing breast cancer death rates. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, looked at what happened in Norway before and after 1996, when the country began providing mammograms to women ages 50 to 69, along with special breast cancer teams to treat all women with breast cancer. The study, medical experts say, is the first to assess the benefit of mammography in the context of the modern era of breast cancer treatment. Experts from the American Cancer Society said the total body of science supports that having regular mammography is an important part of a woman's preventive health care. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/2vr7pao.A free registration is required to read this story.
|
|
IMMUNIZATION 
NEWS
A Look Ahead
September 24, 2010
By Anne Schuchat, M.D., Director, National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
For many people, fall is a time to tune into sports, tackle new projects, and even plan for the holidays. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC-wants to remind you it also means flu season is on its way. Last year's 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic hit many hard, and should act as a reminder of just how unpredictable flu can be. It can attack even healthy people, and it can send children and adults to the hospital. The first and most important step in protecting against the flu is to get a flu vaccine each season, and CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older be vaccinated. This season's flu vaccine (both the shot and the nasal spray) has been updated as flu vaccines are every season to protect against the three flu viruses that surveillance indicates will be most common. Experts predict that the H1N1 virus that caused so much illness last season will continue to spread, as well as two other seasonal flu viruses. Some people are calling this the "triple protection" or "all in one" flu vaccine. But seasonal flu vaccines always protect against three flu viruses. And this year's seasonal flu vaccines are being made in the same way that flu vaccines have been made for decades, during which hundreds of millions of flu vaccines have been given safely.
When you get vaccinated against the flu, you can protect not only yourself, but your family, friends, and others around you, too. Also keep in mind, your flu vaccine helps protect children younger than 6 months of age who are too young to get vaccinated themselves. Your vaccine also reduces the chance of you spreading the flu to those who are at high risk from serious flu complications. As more people are vaccinated against the flu, less flu will spread through your community.
Getting the flu vaccine soon after it becomes available in your community is always a good idea, and the protection you get from vaccination will last throughout the flu season. You can usually find flu vaccines at your local pharmacies, retail stores, and health departments, as well as at your doctor's office or clinic. Don't forget to ask your children's doctor, nurse, or clinic about getting your kids vaccinated, too. Remind your friends and relatives to get vaccinated by sending an 'e-card' from the CDC website!
Visit Flu.gov and the CDC website (www.cdc.gov/flu) for updates throughout the flu season. We'll keep you up-to-date and informed.
It's up to YOU to protect yourself and those around you!
Claim submission guidelines
Modified: 10/1/2010 Location: FL, PR, USVILine of Business: Part A, Part B
This article is for informational purposes and reminds the Medicare provider community of the requirements to correctly complete roster billing and centralized billing for the 2010 influenza and pneumococcal immunizations. [MM7124] |
|
|
PAY FOR
PERFORMANCE
NEWS
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
Incentive Program Information
Incentive payments totaling as much as $27 billion may be made under the Medicare & Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs beginning in 2011. Are you eligible for an incentive? How much can an eligible professional earn? What are the key dates for these programs?
Learn more on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services EHR Incentive Programs website!
Tip Sheets for Eligible Professionals:
- UPDATED: Medicare EHR Incentive Programs, PQRI, & E-Prescribing Comparison
Learn what opportunities are available to Medicare Eligible Professionals to receive incentive payments for participating in important Medicare initiatives. This fact sheet provides information on eligibility, timeframes, and maximum payments for each program.
For the 3 tip sheets above, go to:
- NEW: Medicaid EHR Incentive Payments for Eligible Professionals
Which types of individual practitioners can participate in the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program?
- NEW: EHR Incentive Program Timeline
|
|
CMS
NEWS
CMS Makes Information about Physician Fee
Schedule Payment Rates More Accessible
The Physician Fee Schedule Lookup Tool
designed to provide information on the payment rate for services by physicians and nonphysician practitioners under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The Fee Schedule Lookup includes more than 10,000 physician services, the associated relative value units, a fee schedule status indicator, and various payment policy indicators needed for payment adjustment. With the Fee Schedule Lookup, the user can find not only the national unadjusted payment rate for each service, determined by multiplying the total relative value units assigned to the service by the appropriate conversion factor, but also the geographically adjusted payment rates for each payment locality. |
|
OTHER
NEWS
Promoting Preventive Services
for Adults 50-64
The CDC has an interactive website by state to show prevention screening services for adults 50-64. Data can be broken down by geographic regions, enabling practices to compare their rates to local area rates from 2008. to learn more, click here...
|
|
|
|
|
