|
|
|
|
March 30, 2010
| Vol. 17, No. 7
|
 March
30, 2010 is National Doctors Day. It is a day to celebrate the
contribution of
physicians who serve our community by caring for its' citizens.
The first
Doctors
Day observance was March 30, 1933 in Winder, Georgia. Eudora Brown
Almond, wife
of Dr. Charles B. Almond, decided to set aside a day to honor
physicians. This
first observance included mailing greeting cards and placing flowers
on
graves of deceased doctors. The red carnation is commonly used as the
symbolic
flower for National Doctors Day.
On March 30, 1958, a resolution commemorating Doctors Day
was
adopted by the United States House of Representatives. In 1990,
legislation was
introduced in the House and Senate to establish a national Doctors Day.
Following overwhelming approval by the United States Senate and the
House of
Representatives, on October 30, 1990, President George Bush signed S.J.
RES.
#366 (which became Public Law 101-473) designating March 30th as
"National
Doctors Day."
The Medical Society of the
District of
Columbia joins with millions of grateful patients in honoring you for
your
commitment, passion and excellence in caring for the nation, and
especially
those of us here in the nation's capital who benefit from your curative
powers. We especially recognize those physicians who care for
the less fortunate and those facing barriers to care, and especially
those of you who have travelled the globe to donate your
services, most recently in Haiti!
To those of us you serve and
treat,
you are our heroes. Best wishes on Doctors Day 2010! Sincerely, K. Edward Shanbacker Executive Vice President |
|
Upcoming Events
|
Kanter Prize Deadline
Tuesday, March 30
5:00pm
1115 30th Street NW
Suite 100
Washington DC 20007
shanbacker@msdc.org
National Doctors Day
March 30th
All Day
ProAssurance Loss Prevention Seminars**
Click to Register
April 20
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
May 20
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
June 16
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
July 14
Hilton Arlington
950 N. Stafford St.
Arlington, VA
July 29
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
September 21
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
September 22
The Legacy
1775 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD
October 19
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
November 16
American College of Cardiology
2400 N. St. NW
Washington, DC
**All programs begin registration at 5:30pm, and have the program from 6pm - 8pm.
|
2009-2010 Board of Directors
|
Stuart F. Seides, MD
At-Large; Chair of the Board
Peter E. Lavine, MD
President; AMA Alternate Delegate
Frederick C. Finelli, MD
President-Elect
Joseph Gutierrez, MD
Treasurer; AMA Delegation Chair
Robert W. Keisling, MD
At-Large; Secretary
Carlos A. Silva, MD
AMA Delegate
Laura L. Tosi, MD
At-Large; AMA Alternate Delegate
James C. Cobey, MD
At-Large
Julian R. Craig, MD
At-Large
John W. Larsen, MD
At-Large
Joan B. Loveland, MD
At-Large
Reginald Robinson,MD
At-Large
K. Edward Shanbacker
Executive Vice President
|
Contact the MSDC Office
|
1115 30th Street, NW
Suite 100
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 466-1800 (phone)
(202) 452-1542 (fax)
info@msdc.org
www.msdc.org
|
Forward Me!
|
|
|
From the AMA: Health System Reform has Passed - What Now for Your Practice?
|
On March 23, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) into law. A number of key provisions in
the new law may have an immediate impact on your practice and your
patients, while others have a much longer time frame before they will
take effect.
 The AMA has created several documents physicians may use to understand how their practice may be affected. Topics covered include: - Medicare and Medicaid Payment Changes
- Administrative Simplification
- Employer Requirement to offer coverage
- Medical Liability Protection and Grants
- Preventive and Screening Benefit Expansion
- Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage
To access this document and many others, please click here. Please visit the AMA's website for additional information, and be sure to check their site devoted specifically to Health System Reform here. |
|
Medicare Payment Reform In Congress
|
On April 1st, a 21% cut in reimbursement rates for physicians currently billing Medicare is scheduled to occur (see related article below). Work is on-going in the US House of Representatives to approve a measure passed by the US Senate that will extend this deadline to October 1, 2010. During that period, an appeal will be made to permanently fix the flawed Medicare Payment Formula by removing it altogether.
The AMA and MSDC are continuing their advocacy
for a permanent repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, and we
encourage our members to maintain pressure on their legislators. The AMA
Grassroots Hotline is available for your use:
1-800-833-6354. Also, you may visit the AMA website to voice your support for a permanent appeal by clicking here. |
|
CMS Instructs Contractors to Hold Medicare Payment Claims 10 Days
|
Holding of April Claims for Services
Paid Under the 2010
Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid
Services (CMS) is working with Congress, health care providers, and the
beneficiary community to avoid disruption in the delivery of health care
services and payment of claims for physicians, non-physician
practitioners, and other providers of services paid under the Medicare
Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). As you are aware, the Temporary
Extension Act of 2010, enacted on March 2, 2010, extended the zero
percent (0%) update to the 2010 MPFS through March 31, 2010.
CMS
believes Congress is working to avert
the negative update that will take effect April 1. Consequently, CMS
has instructed its contractors to hold claims containing services paid
under the MPFS (including anesthesia services) for the first 10 business
days of April. This hold will only affect claims with dates of service
April 1, 2010, and forward. In addition, the hold should have minimum
impact on provider cash flow because, under the current law, clean
electronic claims are not paid any sooner than 14 calendar days (29 for
paper claims) after the date of receipt.
Be on the alert for
more information about the 2010
Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Update.
|
| Update from Highmark Medicare Services: Top Inquiries FAQs, PECOS Enrollment Deadline and Website Downtime | Top Inquiry
FAQ
The Top Inquiry
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) have been updated. The FAQs contain
valuable
information that may answer your questions. Topics covered include:
Administrative
Billing Issues General
Information
Appeals MSP
Claim
Denials Provider
Enrollment
Claim
Status Remittance
Advice
Eligibility/Entitlement Unprocessable
Claims
Financial
Information
https://www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/faq/partb/index.html
Medicare Seminar
- Small Provider Groups - March 30, 2010 (9:00am)
Join us for our
Medicare Seminar - Small Provider Groups on March 30, 2010 at 9:00 am. This
Seminar will address an overview of the Comprehensive Error Rate Testing,
Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, Tips for Successful Claim Submissions,
Fee Information for 2010 and much more. Register today!
https://www.highmarkmedicareservices.com/calendar/partb/ws-smallprov.htmlPECOS Enrollment Deadline Delayed until January 3, 2011 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have delayed the implementation of a new
Medicare enrollment policy titled, PECOS, the Provider,
Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System. The enrollment deadline has been
extended to Jan. 3, 2011. The original deadline had been April 5, 2010, until this most recent change. CMS had said physicians and group practices -- with few exceptions
-- must be enrolled through PECOS by January 3, 2011 to continue
having their Medicare claims accepted. The agency said its new enrollment system
speeds up the application process, reduces paperwork, and helps cut
down on fraud and abuse. Due to scheduled maintenance, Internet-based PECOS will be unavailable from Monday, March 29, 2010
through Monday, April 5, 2010. Internet-based PECOS allows physicians,
non-physician practitioners, providers, and other suppliers (except
suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies
[DMEPOS]) to enroll or make a change to their existing Medicare
enrollment information over the Internet. Click here for more information or to enroll in PECOS.
|
 |
DC Department of Health Awarded $4.9 Million in Grant Funding
|
 On March 19th, the District of Columbia
Department of Health (DOH) was awarded a grant of $4.9 million for
wellness and tobacco prevention programs in the District.
This
grant award is part of the US Department of Health and Human Services'
Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative to support public
health efforts to reduce obesity, increase physical activity, improve
nutrition, and decrease smoking-four critical actions for combating
chronic diseases and promoting health.
The competitive
funding awards to cities, towns, and tribes across the country will
allow communities to support healthy choices among their residents
through a variety of methods including increasing the availability of
healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for
physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free
environments.
The District's
funds are for a two year project that will enable the District to
further develop and implement Live Well DC, a comprehensive campaign
addressing the top preventable causes of death and other behaviors that
impact the health and wellness of District residents. The campaign is
both policy-oriented and community-driven to create an environment that
supports wellness, including freedom from tobacco, where people live,
work, learn and play. The funds from Communities Putting Prevention to
Work will create resources for DOH, and provide significant funds to the
community to build sustainable capacity for tobacco prevention and
control efforts beyond the two year award. With guidance and support
from District communities, Live Well DC will work to better serve the
residents through multiple strategies
To learn more
about the District's prevention and wellness projects as the Live Well
DC campaign, visit http://doh.dc.gov/. To learn more about Communities
Putting Prevention to Work, visit www.hhs.gov/recovery and www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/recovery.
Information courtesy of the DC Department of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.
|
|
AMA Practice Tip: Establishing a Cost-Based Practice Fee Schedule
|
The AMA has developed the educational resource "Fee schedule analysis: Using your complete practice cost as a guide" (PDF) to help physicians and their practice staff
recognize the need to establish their practice fee schedule based on
what it actually costs to provide a service rather than basing their fee
schedule on what a third-party payer or other entity wants to pay.
This resource includes a 12-step guide to help physician
practices create their own unique physician practice fee schedule with
an easy-to-complete spreadsheet that will allow physician practices to
include additional markup percentages to account for profit,
contributions to reserves and future capital expenditures. |
 |
Greater Washington Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care
Advocacy Alert
| 
The Greater Washington Partnership for Palliative and End of Life Care's mission is
to disseminate information and provide educational opportunities to increase the
understanding and utilization of palliative care services.
An
issue that the Partnership is currently working on is inadequately stocked
opioids in low income neighborhoods in the Washington, DC area.
In October
2009, the Partnership presented their concerns to the DC Pharmacy Board about this issue.
Based on their recommendation, we have developed a reporting form to obtain
information if an incident occurs. Incidents would then be brought to the
Board's attention for further investigation. The information would also provide
a better picture as to what the problem is and assist in discerning possible
solutions to the issue.
Anyone who experiences this issue or has a patient who
experiences this issue is requested to go to the Partnership's website and
complete the reporting form.
Confidentiality will be honored, and any
information identifying the person or organization completing the form will not
be released to any third party. Your practices's assistance is very much
appreciated.
The
reporting form is located at:
http://www.gwpartnership.org/OpioidStockingForm
The Greater Washington Partnership appreciates your time and support to encourage adequate stocking of opioids in all
DC neighborhoods.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
