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Midwest AAOE Newsletter

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Midwest AAOE Meeting

CMS Issues "Resource Use" Reports

Midwest AAOE Has Gone Social

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Midwest AAOE
Fall Meeting

October 5-6, 2012

Doubletree by Hilton
Overland Park, KS

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Issue: IV

April 2012

Dear Midwest AAOE Members,

The staff of Midwest AAOE hopes you will find this e-newsletter and subsequent editions beneficial. The Midwest AAOE strives to inform members of relevant information useful to your everyday practices. Please email us with additions you would like to see in the coming e-newsletters at fcobbe@cobbemanagement.com

The Midwest AAOE Staff

Spring Midwest AAOE Meeting an Overwhelming Success!

The Board of Directors and Program Committee would like to thank all those members and volunteers that attended our Spring meeting at Camden on the Lake in Lake Ozark, MO. The meeting was a tremendous success and your participation was greatly appreciated.

There were a number of stimulating presentations from our lineup of speakers including: Sarah Rock; Mary LeGrand; Meredith Oliver; Bill Maness; and Kathleen DeBruhl. If you would like a copy of any of their presentations please let us know.

There were a few special recognitions as well. Barbara Sack was recognized for her outstanding accomplishments including her

Debra Seyfried and Barbara Sack

looming appointment as President of the AAOE. Debra Seyfried was recognized for her dedication and service to the Midwest AAOE as she concluded her term as President.

The new leadership is busy planning for a successful year. We would like to congratulate those new leaders for their election to office:

President - Jim Kidd, CMPE, St Peters Bone & Joint Surgery, St Peters, MO

President Elect - Sue Meyers, CMPE, Orthopaedic Management Services, Leawood, KS

Secretary/Treasurer - Kelly White, OrthoKC, PA

Past President - Debra Seyfried, MBA, CMPE, CPC

CMS Issues "Resource Use" Reports to Physicians in Four States, With Others To follow.

A story produced by the Washington Post and Kaiser Health News examines the introduction of "resource use" reports, which the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has begun sending to physicians in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. The personalized reports, which will eventually be sent to all physicians who accept Medicare, contain data on average patient costs, quality of care, and how much Medicare spends on each physician's patients compared to spending on patients by their local peers. The reports are called for under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and are designed to help providers pay attention to cost and quality factors, as Medicare shifts from a fee-for-service model to the Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier system. The new payment system is planned to apply to physician groups and some specialists starting in 2015, with most other physicians coming into the system over the following two years.

Midwest AAOE Members in Kansas and Missouri need to pay attention to this pilot project and make sure you have received your physicians QRUR report. If you have not received your report you have until the first week in June 2012. See below.

CMS Requests Input On QRURs From Physicians In Certain States.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and AAOS are asking physicians in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska to provide feedback regarding their quality and resource use reports (QRURs). QRURs will underpin a value-based modifier called for under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The modifier goes into effect in 2015, but will be based on physician performance in 2013. QRURs based on 2010 data were recently made available to about 23,000 physicians in the above listed states via email notices from the region's Medicare contractor, Wisconsin Physician Services. The reports will be available until the first week of June 2012.