Starting May 1, physicians who refer or order services for Medicare patients will be required to be enrolled in Medicare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced they will deny claims submitted on or after May 1 that include the name and National Provider Identifier of a physician who referred or ordered services for a Medicare patient but who is not enrolled in Medicare. 

Physicians who have opted-out of Medicare and have a current opt-out affidavit on file are not required to enroll in Medicare. CMS also has a separate, shorter enrollment form for physicians and other health professionals who only refer and order services but do not bill Medicare directly, according to the AMA.

The federal CMS encourages physicians to enroll as soon as possible to avoid delays in processing. Click here for more information from a CMS bulletin, and here to go to the CMS website.

Maintenance of licensure, or MOL, is a process in development by which licensed physicians will periodically provide, as a condition of license renewal, evidence that they are actively participating in a program of continuous professional development that is relevant to their area of practice.

The Colorado Medical Society has partnered with the Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine, the Colorado Medical Board, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the National Board of Medical Examiners, and the American Board of Medical Specialties to help develop the new process and ensure it meets the needs of Colorado patients and physicians.

DORA has released an MOL survey about your participation in and opinion of various types of continuous professional development activities that may be approved for fulfilling future MOL requirements. CMS strongly encourages all members to complete the survey. It should take no more than 10 minutes. Click here to access this important survey or paste the following URL in an Internet browser: www.nbme.org/PhysicianSurvey. 

The Colorado ICD-10 Training Coalition, spearheaded by the Colorado Medical Society, will present the second free webinar in 2013 series, "Assessing ICD-10 Impact on Your Practice," on Tuesday, April 16, 12-1 p.m. MT. This webinar will provide more discussion on how to approach an impact assessment. Registration is now open; click here to reserve your spot. If you are unable to participate in the live presentation, the recording will be posted online shortly after the meeting.

The first webinar, "Take the First Step Down the ICD-10 Pathway," was held in March and its archived recording and presentation slides are available online. Go to www.cms.org/icd-10.

Physicians in the process of implementing or improving electronic health record systems and participating the Medicare or Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs may be able to satisfy some Stage 2 meaningful use requirements by connecting to Colorado's health information exchange, CORHIO.

Stage 2 requires physicians to do a variety of tasks electronically, including e-prescribing, using computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and submitting electronic data to immunization registries, among others.

The number of physicians signing up to connect to CORHIO has steadily increased and their staff reports that they are "at capacity" for implementations required to connect physicians' EHRs to the HIE. That means that physicians who are planning to do Meaningful Use stage 2 need to schedule their implementation with CORHIO now to be able to be connected within the next three to six months. They caution that if physicians delay, they won't be able to get connected in time and they may miss out on their incentive payment that year, which could impact the practice's bottom line.

For more information, go to www.corhio.org/for-providers/physicians.aspx.

Physicians: We need your help to develop the best CME for your needs. Simply complete a very brief survey about your continuing medical education needs and we will enter your name into a drawing for a $150 gift certificate to a restaurant of your choice.

Please let us help you achieve your continuing professional development goals and requirements through accredited CME. Click here to fill out the survey or copy and paste this URL into your browser: www.surveymonkey.com/s/CMENeeds2013.

Another installment from the American Medical Association's "Prescription for a Healthier Practice" series, the AMA and the American Academy of Neurology present the resource "How to prepare for a health insurer retrospective audit" (AMA members only) to educate physicians and their staff about the recoupment efforts of health insurers through the retrospective audit process. They encourage physician practices to use this resource to guide them through the retrospective audit process from the initial notification from the health insurer to contesting the audit's findings.

Click here to access the PDF.

Attendees of CMS' Spring Conference, May 3-5, 2013, at the Sonnenalp Resort in Vail, Colo., can earn up to 11.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ while learning specific action steps to leverage practice transformation and improve your bottom line.

As always, there is no registration fee for members to attend, but rooms under the hotel group rate are limited. Reserve your room by tomorrow, April 4, 2013, to get the best rate: $150 per night for a junior suite.

Click here to view the full agenda, hotel information and more, and register today!

Black Bottom and Company, a non-profit corporation, is hosting a one-day African-American Infant Mortality Conference on May 17, 2013, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Denver. The keynote speaker is CMS Past President Johnny Johnson, M.D., of Denver, an African-American gynecologist who is an expert in the field of black infant mortality. Other conference presenters include speakers from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver Health and Hospitals, the Colorado Black Health Collaborative, and Healthy Beginning, Inc.

Click here to download an event flyer. Registration is available at www.blackbottomandcompany.org.