Monthly Archives: March 2017

Today's Top Story Are you eligible to bill under CMS chronic-care management code? An article in Modern Healthcare suggests that many physicians may be unaware of a U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) code that allows clinicians to bill for chronic-care management. CMS estimates that 70 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic conditions, which would qualify their physicians for reimbursement under the chronic-care services code. However, the agency has only received chronic-care claims [...]

Today's Top Story AAOS Board approves policy and statement revisions. At the AAOS Board of Directors meeting on Monday, Board members approved a new Clinical Practice Guideline on management of hip osteoarthritis. In addition, the Board approved revisions to AAOS Information Statement #1017: Patient-Physician Communication, and to Information Statement #1028: Communicating Adverse Events or Poor Outcomes, a new information statement on radiation safety, and revisions to the AAOS Long-Term Investment Policy. The Board also recognized retiring Board members [...]

Today's Top Story Seema Verma confirmed as CMS administrator. The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm the nomination of Seema Verma as administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Ms. Verma holds a master's degree in public health with a concentration in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and is president and chief executive officer of healthcare policy consulting company Strategic Health Policy Solutions. Read more...(registration may be required) [...]

Today's Top Story Study: Preoperative opioid use linked to increased risks to patients. Findings from a study published in the April issue of the journal Annals of Surgery suggest that preoperative opioid use may be associated with increased risk of longer stay and 30-day readmission. The authors reviewed information on 200,005 patients who underwent elective abdominal surgery and found that 8.8 percent were preoperative opioid users. Compared with non-users, preoperative opioid users were more likely to have a [...]

The Winter 2017 issue of No Bones About It has been released.  Please see the full issue by clicking here. Top stories in this issue include: President’s notes: Presidential Reflection View from K2 Register now for 2017 WVOS and WVAOE meetings WVOS advocacy online for 2017  

Today's Top Story House members introduce new healthcare reform bill to transition away from ACA. Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Among other things, the bill proposes to end the individual mandate, reduce the expansion of Medicaid, and retain ACA provisions under which children can stay on their parents’ insurance until 26 years of age and insurers cannot penalize consumers with preexisting conditions. [...]

Today's Top Story Providers who failed to revalidate may have lost eligibility for Medicaid reimbursement. An analysis by Modern Healthcare finds that more than 65,000 providers in 15 states may be ineligible for reimbursement under Medicaid under an Affordable Care Act provision that requires certain providers to revalidate their eligibility. Under the initiative, providers that enrolled in Medicaid prior to March 25, 2011, were required to submit revalidation notices to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [...]