Dear NVOS Members,
The articles contained in this e-newsletter are excerpted from AAOS newsletters and other media sources to help our members stay current on national issues.
The NVOS Staff |
Number Of Solo Practitioners Is On The Decline
| Data from consulting company Accenture indicate that the number of  independent physicians in the United States will fall to 33 percent in 2016, down from 57 percent in 2001, an article in the Orlando Sentinel reports. The reasons, according to the article, include new government regulations and standards, changing practice and payment models, and the high cost of implementing electronic health records. At the same time, "health systems are buying physician practices to improve their market share, and commercial insurance companies have less incentive to negotiate reimbursement rates with some small practices." The article states that advocates of independent practices are concerned that as hospitals acquire practices, the cost of care for patients will increase, a claim hospitals refute.
Read more...
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July 1 Is Last Day To File For Meaningful Use Hardship Exception And Avoid 2016 Pay Adjustment
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Healthcare providers have until July 1 to file a hardship exception and avoid a 2016 payment adjustment for unsuccessful participation in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2014. To file a hardship exception, providers must take the following steps:
- Show proof of a circumstance beyond their control
- Explicitly outline how the circumstance significantly impaired their ability to meet meaningful use requirements
If approved, the exception is valid for the 2016 payment adjustment only. Supporting documentation must be provided for certain hardship exception categories. If a hardship exception is to be claimed for a subsequent payment adjustment year, a new application must be submitted for the appropriate year.
Read more...
Learn more about hardship exceptions...
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Bill Seeks To Effectively Delay ICD-10 Implementation Until Processing Systems Are Certified Fully Functional
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The Journal of AHIMA reports that a bill under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives would, if enacted, call for an 18-month transition period during which the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would be required to conduct comprehensive end-to-end testing of the ICD-10 claims processing system. The bill does not seek to directly delay the Oct. 1, 2015 implementation date for ICD-10, but would require the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) to certify before Congress that the Medicare fee-for-service claims processing system based on the ICD-10 standard is fully functional before implementation. In addition, the bill would require the secretary of HHS to "provide for transparent testing to assess the transition under the Medicare fee-for-service claims processing system from the ICD-9 to the ICD-10 standard, and for other purposes."
Read more...
Learn more about the bill...
AAOS plans to comment on the legislation, and has recently supported a separate bill that, if enacted, would prohibit the secretary of HHS from replacing ICD-9 with ICD-10.
Read more...
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Study Finds That Many Medical Liability Settlement Agreements Limit Transparency
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A study published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that nondisclosure clauses may be common in many medical liability settlement agreements, and that such clauses are often broader in scope than would be required to protect the parties involved. The researchers conducted a retrospective review of medical liability claim files from a single academic medical system for cases closed before (FY 2001-2002), during (FY 2006-2007), and after (FYs 2009-2012) the implementation of statewide tort reform. They found 715 closed medical liability claims and 150 settlement payments. Among 124 cases that met inclusion criteria, 110 (88.7 percent) had settlement agreements that included nondisclosure provisions. All nondisclosure clauses prohibited disclosure of the settlement terms and amount, 61 (55.5 percent) prohibited disclosure that the settlement had been reached, 51 (46.4 percent) prohibited disclosure of the facts of the claim, 29 (26.4 percent) prohibited reporting to regulatory agencies, and 10 (9.1 percent) prohibited disclosure by the settling physicians and hospitals as well as by the claimant. In addition, three agreements (2.7 percent) included specific language that prohibited the claimant from disparaging the physicians or hospitals. The researchers note that the 50 settlement agreements signed after tort reform took full effect had stricter nondisclosure provisions than the 60 signed in earlier years.
Read more...
Read the abstract...
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Transitioning To A New EHR May Look Good On Paper, But Not Achieve Desired Results
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Study data presented at the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society attempt to quantify what factors may be associated with the decision to switch electronic health records (EHR) systems, and what happens after that transition. The researchers surveyed nearly 17,000 active users of EHRs, and found that about 23 percent of physician practices are frustrated enough to consider switching vendors. Reasons given for transitioning to a new system included:
- Additional functionality
- Meaningful use
- Improved usability
- Better support and training
- Consolidation of multiple systems
After changing systems, only 28 percent of respondents stated that the new system had improved productivity, while 49 percent said that productivity had not improved.
Read more...
View the presentation (PDF)...
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FDA Announces Web Portal For UDI-Bearing Medical Devices
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Modern Healthcare reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced the launch of an online portal for its Global Unique Device Identification Database (GUDID). The AccessGUDID site includes publicly searchable information on medical devices that are linked with a unique device identifier (UDI) code. Device manufacturers are required to submit information about each device to the GUDID database. The system was established under the 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The system is being phased in, and by 2020 all medical devices will be required to carry a UDI.
Read more...
Learn more about UDIs...
Visit the AccessGUDID website...
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Study: ED Opioid Prescriptions Often Small; Immediate Release
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A study published online in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine suggests that opioid pain relievers prescribed through emergency departments (EDs) in the United States often consist of low pill counts and immediate-release formulations. The researchers conducted an observational, multicenter, retrospective, cohort study of 27,516 patient visits across 19 EDs during a single week in October 2012. Overall, they found that 19,321 patients were discharged and 3,284 received an opioid pain reliever prescription. Of those, the mean age was 41 years and the mean initial pain score was 7.7. The most common diagnoses associated with opioid pain reliever prescribing were back pain (10.2 percent), abdominal pain (10.1 percent), extremity fracture (7.1 percent), and sprain (6.5 percent). The most common opioid pain relievers prescribed were oxycodone (52.3 percent), hydrocodone (40.9 percent), and codeine (4.8 percent). The researchers note that more than 99 percent of pain relievers prescribed were immediate release and 90.0 percent were combination preparations, and the mean and median number of pills was 16.6 and 15, respectively.
Read more...
Read the abstract...
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Thank You To Our 2015 NVOS Annual Meeting Exhibitors
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2014-2015 Board of Directors
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