Just a week remains before the Colorado Medical Society kicks off the 2016 Annual Meeting. Register online before noon on Tuesday, Sept. 13 to guarantee your spot at the reengineered meeting. Members will participate in interactive discussions and workshops on the hottest topics in Colorado medicine -- including ColoradoCare and physician-assisted death -- plus social events with great refreshments and giveaways. As a bonus, you can earn up to 8.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and COPIC points. CMS will also provide child care Friday night and Saturday, and events for the whole family throughout the weekend.

Registration is free and includes member meals and admission to all sessions and social events. Go to CMS's online registration portal and register before noon on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Andrew Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced in a Sept. 8 blog post that the agency will heed concerns expressed by the American Medical Association, the Colorado Medical Society and other physician organizations about the proposed start date for performance reporting by physicians under the new payment systems created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, or MACRA.

In a draft regulation issued last April, the federal CMS proposed to require physicians to begin reporting under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or through the advanced alternative payment model (APM) option on Jan. 1, 2017, even though final regulations promulgating MACRA's sweeping payment system changes would not be issued until the fall.

The agency announced that the final MACRA regulation will exempt physicians from any risk of penalties if they choose one of three distinct MIPS reporting options in 2017, in addition to the option of participating in an advanced APM:

• Full-year reporting that begins on Jan. 1;
• Partial year reporting for a reduced number of days; or
• A "test" option under which physicians can report minimal amounts of data.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently updated an FAQ on requirements related to the ICD-10 transition, reminding physicians that the flexibility program, announced July 2015, is ending Oct. 1. The agency announced the flexibility program last year after pressure from the American Medical Association and other organizations. The flexibility period ensured that doctors would not be penalized with claims denials or quality-reporting penalties as long as they select a diagnosis code from the right family of codes for the first year of implementation.

The federal CMS indicates in the FAQ that they will not extend additional flexibility guidance beyond Oct. 1. "Providers should already be coding to the highest level of specificity. ICD-10 flexibilities were solely for the purpose of contractors performing medical review so that they would not deny claims solely for the specificity of the ICD-10 code as long as there is no evidence of fraud. These ICD-10 medical review flexibilities will end on Oct. 1, 2016. As of Oct. 1, 2016, providers will be required to code to accurately reflect the clinical documentation in as much specificity as possible, as per the required coding guidelines."

The agency also recently promoted their ICD-10 Assessment and Maintenance Toolkit, which they say can help you maintain your ICD-10 progress. Visit the federal CMS ICD-10 website for the latest news and official resources, including a contact list for provider Medicare and Medicaid questions. You can also sign up for ICD-10 email updates.