|
DGR Telephone:
703-907-7800 |
|
Follow APA Advocacy on Twitter!
The APA Department of Government Relations is now on Twitter! Now you can find out about APA Advocacy activities, Congressional hearings, mark-ups, and floor votes in real time.
Please click on the following link to start following APA Advocacy Twitter:
http://twitter.com/apa_
advocacy
Questions about the Twitter page or how to set up an account? Please contact Kate McAllister or Jason Pray at advocacy@psych.org. | |
|
Congress Passes and the President Signs the Continuing Extension Act of 2010
On April 15, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "Continuing Extension Act of 2010." This law extends through May 31, 2010, the zero percent update to the MPFS that was in effect for claims with dates of service January 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010. The law is retroactive to April 1, 2010. Consequently, effective immediately, claims with dates of service April 1 and later, which were being held by Medicare contractors, are being released for processing and payment. Please keep in mind that the statutory payment floors still apply and, therefore, clean electronic claims cannot be paid before 14 calendar days after the date they are received by Medicare contractors (29 calendar days for clean paper claims). Given the uncertainty regarding MPFS claims with dates of service June 1, 2010, and later, please watch your listservs and your contractor's website for more information. APA continues to work closely with the AMA and House and Senate leadership offices on a long-term SGR solution that will be considered in Congress by early June. We will have more to report on this front over the next two weeks. |
|
APA Needs Your Help in Fighting the Elimination of the Consultation Codes
As many of you know, on January 1, 2010, Medicare eliminated the use of all consultation codes except those for telemedicine and instructed physicians to bill for these services using the "most appropriate" remaining evaluation and management codes. The AMA and APA are working with the American Group Management Association and 16 other specialty societies to modify this policy. To gather data for this effort, we have designed a short survey that should take only 10 or 15 minutes to complete. Your participation in this important survey will help us to understand and quantify how this policy is affecting physicians.
The survey, which can be accessed through the link below,will be open through close of business April 30. Results will be collated for individual specialties and across all specialties. If you are a member of more than one of the participating organizations, please fill out only one survey. Should you have any questions, please contact Jenny Tassler at (703) 907-7842 or Ellen Jaffe at (703) 907-8591. Thank you for helping us make a difference for you.
Participating Specialties are: American Academy of Neurology, American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, American College of Cardiology, American College of Gastroenterology, American College of Rheumatology, American Gastroenterological Association, American Medical Group Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, American Society of Hematology, American Urological Association, Heart Rhythm Society, Infectious Disease Society of America, Joint Council on Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, The Endocrine Society. |
|
|
|
|
