Medical Society of New Jersey e-Newsletter
 
July 23, 2015

   
In This Issue
 
The Physicians Foundation released ICD10Charts.com, a free comprehensive ICD-10 training module for medical practices.
Member Benefits

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!  

Check out all of MSNJ's member benefits!
CME/Events /Training

Check out the MSNJ Calendar for upcoming meetings!

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.  


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.


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.

2015 CMS National Training Program (NTP) Workshop

August 5-6, 2015 at Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore, MD

Register online.


CMS National Provider Call - Countdown to ICD-10

Thursday, August 27 from 2:30pm to 4:00pm

Listen to coding guidance and tips along with updates from CMS.

Register online.


The Surgery Center Coalition will host their third Annual "Day of Compliance for ASCs" on Thursday, September 24, 2015 from 8:15am to 4:15pm at The Palace at Somerset Park. Click here for more information and registration.


4th Annual Psychiatric Society of Delaware CME Symposium

Saturday, September 26, 2015 at the Medical Society of Delaware Conference Center  

This full day conference will bring experts from around the region to present on the topics of: integrating complementary and alternative therapies for pain management, genetics and psychiatric risk, abnormal illness behavior and somatoform disorders and the developmental, cultural, psychopathological and technical aspects surrounding forgiveness. More information and registration.


Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy's "Roy A. Bowers 65th Annual Pharmaceutical Conference"

September 30, 2015

The Radisson, 21 Kingsbridge Road, Piscataway, NJ

More information and registration


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LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN! 1 Year Away Until MSNJ's 250th Anniversary!

Save the date for the Inaugural Gala where we will celebrate our 250 year anniversary!
News

 

The 250th Anniversary of the Medical Society of New Jersey

In 1766, ten years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a group of physicians practicing in New Jersey met and then formed the first State Medical Society in the United States. Their professed objects were "mutual improvement,"  "the advancement of the profession" and "the promotion of the public good." In these few words, the whole trend of practice in the healing art, not only for New Jersey but for all the states, was formulated: "mutual improvement," not financial privilege; "the advancement of the profession," not the exploitation of the individual;" and "the promotion of the public good." This, the original concept to guide the conduct of the regular physicians in New Jersey, was formulated eighty-one years before the American Medical Association was organized. From that code of ethics the medical profession, as typified in The Medical Society of New Jersey, has not deviated. [abstract from The Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey (1935)].


Help us to celebrate the leadership and legacy of MSNJ. Save the date: July 23, 2016. See our save the date flyer - please share this flyer with all of your colleagues. 

Resolutions Due August 12

The next meeting of the Revolving Reference Committee is Monday, August 24 at 7:00 pm via webinar. All resolutions need to be vetted by your County Medical Society prior to submission to MSNJ. Resolutions are due from the County Medical Societies by August 12. Click here for instructions on writing a resolution.

St. Elizabeth's Medical Center HIPAA Settlement

On November 16, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received a complaint that St. Elizabeth's Medical Center (SEMC) workforce members used an internet-based document sharing application to store documents containing electronic protected health information (ePHI) of at least 498 individuals without having analyzed the risks associated with such a practice. Separately, on August 25, 2014, SEMC submitted notification to HHS OCR regarding a breach of unsecured ePHI stored on a former SEMC workforce member's personal laptop and USB flash drive, affecting 595 individuals. SEMC, a tertiary care hospital located in Brighton, Massachusetts, has agreed to settle potential HIPAA violations for $218,400 and will adopt a corrective action plan to fix deficiencies in its HIPAA compliance program. Read the resolution agreement. View guidance on how to meet privacy and security responsibilities.

Home Health Agencies

CMS has released ratings, which may be useful for your referrals. Read more about the new data. 
Legislative Update

NJ Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) 

The Governor has signed legislation that will improve the PMP, but also create a mandate for physicians to check the database. MSNJ urges physicians to learn about this new law. View our guidelines. See the Governor's press release.

Out of Network Legislation 

MSNJ NEEDS YOUR HELP IN FIGHTING OUT OF NETWORK LEGISLATION  

The pending bill (S.20/A.4444) is the insurance industry's response to transparency and cost problems, not ours. What proponents are saying:

  

"Hospitals and physicians motivated by 'personal and corporate greed' had 'lied and misrepresented' what the bill actually would do." ... "They've already formed an opinion that this is the worst thing since the ebola virus."- Senator Joseph Vitale "Increasingly, doctors and hospitals are refusing to participate in insurance networks..."  

- NJHURT.org (funded by NJAHP)

  

If you or your patients have experienced coverage or payment denials or if you have experienced contract terminations or onerous contract terms by insurance carriers, we need to hear from you. Please send your stories to Mishael Azam, Senior Manager of Legislative Affairs, at mazam@msnj.org. (Let us know if you would like your story shared anonymously). Thank you in advance for supporting true coverage for patient care, and fair contracts and payments.

 

Please also donate to our PAC so we can continue to fight this bill at msnj.org/donate.

Practice Management

Only 69 Days Away!: ICD-10 Deadline October 1, 2015

The following are CMS's 5 steps on preparing for ICD-10:

1) Make a Plan

2) Train Your Staff

3) Update Your Processes

4) Talk with Your Vendors and Health Plans

5) Test Your Systems and Processes

 

Read more about each step in CMS's Quick Start Guide. Read AMA's beginner and expert's guide to ICD-10 prep: Steps for July.


View resources on MSNJ's website. Register for upcoming ICD-10 Webinar Workshops.

Modifier 25

Check out Novitas Solutions Modifier 25 article and flowchart for deciding when to use Modifier 25.

New Member Benefit: Supercoder.com
MSNJ is excited to introduce a new member benefit, powered by SuperCoder.com. Use these free tools on the
MSNJ website:

  • Ask an Expert (submit questions and get answers from AAPC and/or AHIMA certified coders)
  • ICD-10 Bridges (crosswalk your ICD-9 codes and become familiar with ICD-10)
  • Code Search (obtain results from four sets of code indexes, tables, and SuperCoder's Keyword Code Helper)
  • Access other SuperCoder.com tools at MSNJ's discounted rate

Submit 2015 PQRS data to avoid the 2017 penalty!

MSNJ is continuing its PQRS Reporting Benefit in 2015:

Have you started thinking about PQRS reporting to CMS for 2015? Start planning now to avoid the 2% penalty in 2017!

 

Through a partnership with PQRSwizard� we have made it easy for your practice to participate. PQRSwizard, like Turbo-Tax™ for PQRS reporting, will help guide you step-by-step to simplify the CMS PQRS reporting process.

 

Measures Groups, individual measures, and GPRO Lite options are now open for 2015 registration.  

 

Visit www.msnj.org/benefits to access the preferred MSNJ price of $225 per provider (Regular Fee is $299).

 

The deadline for 2015 reporting through PQRSwizard, using the MSNJ discount, is February 26, 2016.

 

Note that ALL PROVIDERS THAT BILL MEDICARE FFS are responsible for reporting under the PQRS program.

Practice Managers: Please take our Medical Practice Managers Section Events Survey 
Corporate Partners

Liability Insurance:

Princeton Insurance - Gold Level Partner    


Billing:  

Cape Medical Billing - Bronze Level Partner  

 

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.

 
Medical Society of New Jersey
2 Princess Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
(o) 609-896-1766 e-mail:
 

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"  

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.