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Call for Abstracts!
The South Carolina Orthopaedic Association is now accepting abstract submissions and Resident Research Competition submissions for the 2013 SCOA Annual Meeting. All of the information you will need to secure your participation has been added below. March 1, 2013 is the submission deadline.
Submissions must include the application and a completed financial disclosure form.
Instructions and forms are available on the SCOA website:http://www.scoanet.org/annual-conference.php
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Study Finds Over 80% of Doctors Facing PQRS Penalties
Modern Physician is reporting on a study released by the American College of Radiology's Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute that shows that over 80% of physicians (non-radiologists) are failing to meet the PQRS reporting requirements. While the penalties don't kick in until 2015, physicians are judged on how they report in 2013. This leaves many physicians and practices scrambling to ensure they are reporting the required elements so their reimbursement is not reduced come 2015.
The SCOA and SCAOE are conducting a survey of our members and their experiences reporting PQRS measures. To participate in the survey, please click on the following link:
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SCMA CME Tracking Program Overview
The SC Board of Medical Examiners has agreed to remove SCMA members from their Audit List if the SCMA certifies that all CME requirements for license renewal have been met. The SCMA's CME Tracking program will collect and manage members' CME transcripts in a convenient centralized database. Members who have attained the required 40 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ in the course of the two year compliance period, with 75% (or 30) of those credits in the specialty area in which they practice, will have their names removed from the SC Board of Medical Examiners' "audit" pool.
The current two-year compliance calendar is January 1, 2011 - December 31, 2012. Periodically a transcript of activities will be sent to you to review the number of hours attained and identify any unassigned activities which may comply with the "specialty area" requirement. After your certification of specialty hours, a report conveying the names of all SC licensed physicians who have met the CME requirement for the next licensure renewal cycle will be submitted to the SC Board of Medical Examiners.
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Blood Pressure Measurement Exclusion for EHR Reporting
As of 2013 there is an exclusion for Blood Pressure monitoring in the Meaningful Use Reporting Requirements. This could be a consideration for orthopaedic surgeons and other specialists in situations where Blood Pressure is not relevant.
"The current exclusions only allow an EP (Eligible Professional) to claim the exclusion if all three vital signs (height, weight, blood pressure) are not relevant to their scope of practice or if the EP sees no patients 2 years or older. However, under the new Stage 1 changes, an EP can claim an exclusion if the EP sees no patients 3 years or older (the EP would not have to record blood pressure), if all three vital signs are not relevant to their scope of practice (the EP would not record any vital signs), if height and weight are not relevant to their scope of practice (the EP would still record blood pressure), or if blood pressure is not relevant to their scope of practice (the EP would still record height and weight)."
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