Today's Top Story 2019 proposed budget suggests 21 percent cut to HHS overall, but some agencies would see funding gains President Donald J. Trump has released a 2019 budget proposal that includes a 21 percent reduction in funding for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). An article in The Hill breaks down some of the changes, including the following: $11 billion for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a cut of about [...]
West Virginia State Government "Week in the Know" February 14, 2018 The 2018 Legislative Session The Legislature Finance Committee approves sports betting bill After 3 1/2 hours of debate spread over two days, members of the state Senate’s Finance Committee approved a sports gambling bill Tuesday identical to the one the committee took up for consideration. House passes bill to rein in attorney general's spending of settlement money Members [...]
Today's Top Story Study: Rapid rise in INR after warfarin linked to increased risk of VTE in TJA patients Data from a study published in the Feb. 15 issue of the Journal of the AAOS suggest that rapid increase in international normalized ratio (INR) after warfarin initiation may be associated with increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients who undergo total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Members of the research team conducted a retrospective study of 948 patients [...]
West Virginia State Government "Week in the Know" February 10, 2018 The 2018 Legislative Session "9-1-1 What is your..." 911 fees paid by phone customers “stolen” by states to fill budget gaps "On our individual phone bills, a line item is typically included for 911 service," FCC Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in an op-ed for The Hill today. It's a relatively small fee that states and localities charge to support emergency calling services. But [...]
Today's Top Story Budget deal includes an array of healthcare provisions Modern Healthcare reports that a federal budget act enacted earlier includes a number of provisions that may impact healthcare. Among other things, the budget law includes: repeal of the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board $6 billion in funding to address the opioid epidemic a measure to slow the rollout of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System 4 additional years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program [...]
Today's Top Story Study: Cam lesion may significantly impact hip flexion ROM; femoral version may affect internal rotation Findings from a study published in the Feb. 7 issue of The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery ( JBJS) suggest that cam lesion may have a greater impact on hip flexion range of motion (ROM) than on hip internal rotation. The authors conducted a prospective, cohort study of 220 patients (440 hips) who presented with unilateral or bilateral [...]
Orthopaedic Surgeons Discuss War Injuries, Updates on TKA, Opioid Hearings, and More For questions or concerns on these or other advocacy issues, contact us at dc@aaos.org. 13th Annual Extremity War Injuries (EWI) and Hill Visits The 13th annual EWI symposium is the latest installment in the annual symposium series, which has served to define current knowledge and identify areas for future research regarding the management of extremity trauma for NIH, Congress, the Department of Defense, orthopaedic [...]
Today's Top Story Will MIPS cost measures properly account for more complex patients? An article in Modern Healthcare discusses measures under the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). The measures track cost data for eight procedures, including knee arthroplasty and lower limb revascularization. As part of a pilot program, the agency created reports for about 17,000 medical practices based on claims data from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017, [...]
West Virginia State Government "Week in the Know" February 3, 2018 The 2018 Legislative Session Teachers Take A Stand! Teachers from southern counties flood Capitol in protest Hundreds of teachers and other public employees from throughout West Virginia filled the Capitol Rotunda Friday morning to call on legislators to hear their concerns on wages and employee insurance programs. All public schools in Mingo, Logan and Wyoming counties closed their doors Friday [...]
Today's Top Story CMS proposes percent increase in baseline MA pay rates; opioid limits The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed an average 1.84 percent increase in baseline Medicare Advantage (MA) payment rates for 2019. Modern Healthcare reports that, after taking into account the way health plans code diagnoses, the average Medicare Advantage payment rate will effectively increase by 3.1 percent. In the same announcement, CMS proposed "hard formulary levels" at pharmacies to restrict [...]