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Medical Society of New Jersey e-Newsletter
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 | The Physicians Foundation released ICD10Charts.com, a free comprehensive ICD-10 training module for medical practices.
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SoFi
SoFi refinances student loan debt from both federal and private sources into one loan with one monthly payment at lower rates. Physician borrowers save on average $20,800 on their student loans. Adjustable rates start at 2.17% APR, fixed rates at 3.5% APR. Access the discount.
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MSNJ Magazine Subscription Service
Subscription Services, Inc., does their very best to get you the lowest rates. As a member, you are eligible for the very lowest prices on magazine subscriptions as well as personalized hands-on customer service. Click "Shop for Magazines" to place new subscriptions, renewals, as well as gift order subscriptions. You can also inquire about titles you may be interested in. If you ever have a question regarding your order or your account, please call 1-800-603-5602, or use the contact page to communicate with a customer service representative. And if you ever find a lower authorized price, they will match it!
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Ready Set Code! ICD-10 Webinar Workshops
The compliance date for implementation of ICD-10 is October 1, 2015. Will you be ready? MSNJ and the New Jersey Hospital Association will host a series of specialty specific webinar workshops on ICD-10. These hands-on coding workshops will help you master ICD-10-CM and the documentation requirements associated with coding for your specialty-specific practice. Participants will gain an understanding of the code format and structure of ICD-10 and the ability to successfully assign diagnosis codes using ICD-10. Choose one workshop that best describes your practice. Each 2-hour Specialty Workshop will be repeated on two different dates/times for your convenience. All workshops are approved for 2 AAPC CEUs. More information and registration.
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New! Free on-line course on End of Life Care
Meets NJ BME education requirement for two Category 1 Credits in End of Life Care needed for 2015 license renewal.
Members access here.
We also have an alternative online option with a modest fee:
Education in Palliative and End-of-life Care to satisfy the 2 credit end-of-life training requirement via long distance learning - and at a 15% discount to members. MSNJ members, please click here to obtain the promo code.
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Webinar: Collection Tips in 10 Minutes
I.C. System has created a series of short webinars to provide tips to help your office. Access the webinars.
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CMS National Provider Call: 2016 PFS Proposed Rule: Medicare Quality Reporting Programs
Thursday, July 16; 1:30-3pm
This presentation will cover proposed updates to the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Value-Based Payment Modifier (Value Modifier), Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program, and Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) Initiative. Register.
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Novitas Solutions will host their 2015 Medicare Symposium in our area on the following dates:
- July 29, 2015 - Fort Lee, NJ
- August 5, 2015 - Philadelphia, PA
- November 10, 2015 - East Windsor, NJ
More information.
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Progressive Healthcare Conferences Webinar: Increase Patient Safety: Reduce Patient Suicide & Ensure Compliance
Thursday, June 25, 2015 from 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Discover how to prevent suicide and keep your patients safe, ensure compliance with standards and effectively train your staff to identify patients at risk.
Register online.
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Policy & Strategy Panel Meeting: Medical Staff Issues
Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 5:30pm
MSNJ Conference Center, 2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ
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News
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MSNJ Board of Trustees met on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at Greenacres Country Club. Read the bullet points from the meeting.
Elizabeth Paczolt, MD, received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award for her service on the Committee on Medical Education at the June 14 Board of Trustees meeting.
The MSNJ Biennial Quality Recognition Award was presented to the following physician members at MSNJ Board of Trustees Meeting on Sunday, June 14:
- Douglas Ashinsky, MD
- Richard Baum, MD
- Donald Chervenak, MD
- Scott Eder, MD
The Golden Merit Award Ceremony, celebrating our physician members who have held a medical license for 50 years, was held on Sunday, June 14, 2015. We thank the Masters of Ceremony, Dr. Joseph Reichman and Dr. Charles Moss. See pictures of our distinguished members.
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| Medical Staff Alert
The National Practitioner Data Bank's finalized guidebook raises issues that medical staff will want to address in bylaws. It expands the period of an investigation to include an inquiry, of which the physician need not have notice, and requires the reporting of a resignation/surrender/leave of absence that may be totally unrelated to the inquiry. Read more. Members interested in medical staff issues should plan to attend MSNJ's Policy & Strategy Panel meeting on July 23. Register now.
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ICD-10 Advocacy Update
CMS answered organized medicine's laundry list of ICD-10 transition concerns with an expression of its intent to move forward on implementation this October. Meanwhile, AMA passed policy at its recent annual meeting which requires it to seek a two year waiver period. Three bills have been introduced into the House. H.R. 2652 seeks a two-year grace period; H.R. 2247 also seeks a grace period and would require CMS to conduct further end-to-end testing; H.R. 2162 would halt adoption of ICD-10 outright. Read what the opponents of a waiver period are saying.
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SGR Reform-What it Means to Your Practice
The repeal of Medicare's flawed payment formula will result in an additional $510 million for the remainder of 2015 for the care of patients in New Jersey and for $6.7 billion over the next ten years. Read more.
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US Supreme Court Watch-Impact of ACA Subsidy Case in NJ
NJ Spotlight reports that 172,000 New Jersey residents are at risk of losing their subsidies on health plans purchased on the Exchange if the United States Supreme Court rules that subsidies are not available on plans purchased from Exchanges operated by the federal government. The decision in King v. Burwell will be issued by the end of the month and will affect whether healthcare insurance is affordable to many. MSNJ CEO, Larry Downs, along with others expressed his "hope [that] the state or federal policymakers find a way to make sure that people have access to affordable coverage." Read what legislators and other stakeholders are saying.
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Insurance Matters
MSNJ continues to oppose legislation that would limit charges and payments, and impact network contracting. Read our letter. MSNJ also opposes legislation that would prohibit the collection of copays and deductibles. See our letter.
In addition, the Assembly Health Committee passed A.4532, which requires carriers to provide notice to a person covered under the plan if, for any reason, the carrier receives notice from the subscriber to the plan that the subscriber is terminating coverage with respect to that covered person. MSNJ supports this bill.
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Drug Abuse Prevention
The Senate Health Committee has passed S.2436, the counterpart of which already passed the Assembly unanimously. MSNJ supports this bill, and AMA also has policy supporting this bill, which would prohibits selling any product containing dextromethorphan as an active ingredient to a person under 18 years of age.
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Medication Synchronization
The Assembly Health Committee passed A.3331, which encourages medication synchronization. This is a pharmacy initiative, on which MSNJ has no position. Read more.
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EMS Services
The Assembly and Senate Health Committees have quickly passed a bill supported by Cooper University hospital that would give the state's Level 1 trauma centers the exclusive rights to operate emergency medical services in their cities. Two of the state's Level 1 trauma centers already do have the EMS contracts with their cities: University Hospital in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. However, Cooper University Hospital in Camden does not have its city's contract, leaving it in a battle with Virtua Health System. MSNJ does not have a position on this bill.
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Medicare's Role in End-of-Life Care
The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a new fact sheet that answers 10 FAQs about Medicare's role in end-of-life care.
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| Read this Asbury Park Press article on our new president, Dr. Steven Berkowitz.
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Ebola Update
The New Jersey Department of Health has updated their protocol for the Ebola virus disease (EVD) and active monitoring of asymptomatic persons in New Jersey after travel from or through Liberia. Read the notice.
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Practice Management
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Medicare Payment Increase Effective July 1, 2015
Attention Physicians and Practice Managers: As part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, the Medicare physician fee schedule is set to increase by 0.5% effective July 1. Download the new fee schedule from the Novitas website. Please be aware that if you bill Medicare an amount less than the Medicare fee schedule, you will be paid the lesser amount.
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PERM Audits
Every two to three years, CMS conducts Provider Error Rate Measurement (PERM) audits to ensure appropriate Medicaid payments of healthcare claims. At random, certain providers and/or claims may be selected and requested to provide documentation that supports a request for a fee-for- service claim payment. Providers are required to respond to any PERM audit request. Read more. View CMS' webpage on PERM audits.
CMS is hosting PERM provider education sessions for Medicare providers who also provide Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) services. Presentations include: The PERM process and provider responsibilities during a PERM review; recent trends, frequent mistakes and, best practices; and The Electronic Submission of Medical Documentation (esMD) program.
The presentations will be repeated for each session:
- Wednesday, June 24 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm
- Wednesday, July 15 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm
- Wednesday, July 22 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Join the webinar
Audio: 877-267-1577
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Apply for an EHR Hardship Exception by July 1 to Avoid 2016 Penalty
Eligible Professionals (EPs) who did not successfully participate in the Medicare EHR Incentive Program in 2014 will begin receiving penalties starting January 1, 2016. Medicare EPs can avoid the 2016 penalty by applying for a hardship exception by July 1, 2015. The hardship exception applications and instructions for an individual and for multiple Medicare EPs are available. CMS will use Medicare data to determine your eligibility to be automatically granted a hardship exception. If approved, the exception is valid for the 2016 payment adjustment only. If you intend to claim a hardship exception for a subsequent payment adjustment year, a new application must be submitted for the appropriate year.
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CAQH ProView Update
MSNJ and the AMA recently met with CAQH to learn more about CAQH ProView™, recently launched as the next generation of the Universal Provider Datasource® (UPD). This update of the widely-used tool was developed to assist physicians and other healthcare providers to more easily and securely self-report professional and practice information to organizations that require it for credentialing, claims administration, directory services and other uses.
Read more about CAQH's information and resources to help healthcare providers and their practice managers learn to use CAQH ProView. These resources can save time, reduce confusion and provide a quick answer to commonly asked questions.
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Training: Check If You Are All Set To Implement ICD-10
By SuperCoder.com
Gear up for the fast approaching change with these 4 steps. The coming months will bring the challenge of ICD-10 for your practice. You need to prepare your practice to efficiently meet this transition period. Read more about the four key areas where you can work to prevent your practice from being drained.
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ICD-10: Only 103 Days Away!
October 1, 2015 is the deadline to transition to the ICD-10 code set. MSNJ encourages all physicians to begin preparing for implementation by working with software vendors and testing their systems. View resources on MSNJ's website. Register for upcoming ICD-10 Webinar Workshops.
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Legal Services:
Parker McCay, PA - Bronze Level Partner
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IT Solutions:
Priority One Group (P1G) - Silver Level Partner
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Member Resource Guide
Check out the current MSNJ Member Resource Guide! Inside, you will find a complete listing of partners by service/product category, along with contact information. Also, be sure to check out the individual Corporate Partner pages on our website as some offer additional discounts to members!
It is important to note that MSNJ does not endorse any vendor, service, or product. However, we encourage members to please consider our Corporate Partners first as the financial support received from these organizations is vital to our association. It is our hope that their investment in MSNJ will help keep your membership dues and programming affordable.
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Medical Society of New Jersey
2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
(o) 609-896-1766 e-mail:
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About the Medical Society of New Jersey:
Founded in 1766, the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) is the oldest professional society in the United States. MSNJ promotes the betterment of the public health and the science and the art of medicine, to enlighten public opinion in regard to the problems of medicine, and to safeguard the rights of the practitioners of medicine. The organization and its members are dedicated to a healthy New Jersey, working to ensure the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship. In representing all medical disciplines, MSNJ advocates for the rights of patients and physicians alike, for the delivery of the highest quality medical care. For more information visit our website or send us an e-mail.
"Your Partner in Practice... Your Voice in Trenton"
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2015 © Medical Society of New Jersey. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the Medical Society of New Jersey.
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