Events, Conferences, and Announcements November 14, 2016

Each week the Wyoming Medical Society receives a number of webinar, CME, and other conference opportunities which we share with our members without endorsement. This week’s list includes:

Announcements

As Legislative Subcommittees go, the Task Force on Department of Health Facilities has been as active as any we have seen in years. Chairman Lloyd Larson and his group have been meeting in an effort to answer the question of what to do with the State Hospital in Evanston as well as the Life Resource Center in Lander. This week they released their report on what they did this year. Good read and thank you to the Task Force for the effort.

Healthcare Supply Chain Association (HSCA), the sourcing and purchasing partners to American hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare providers, offered its support to the Lower Drug Costs Through Competition Act, and offered comment on the Biosimilar User Fee Act. Click on the links to see why.

According to Mountain Pacific Quality Health, CMS has approved a 90-day EHR reporting period in 2016 and for 2017 for all returning eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHS) and critical hospitals (CAHs) that have previously demonstrated meaningful use in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, as part of the Hospital Outpatient Perspective Payment System (OPPS). See all rule changes included in OPPS changes . The post HTS – MU: CMS Approves a 90-Day Reporting Period for 2016 appeared first on Mountain-Pacific Blog.

On November 2, CMS finalized the 2017 Physician Fee Schedule final rule that recognizes the importance of primary care by improving payment for chronic care management and behavioral health. The rule also finalizes many of the policies to expand the Diabetes Prevention Program model test to eligible Medicare beneficiaries, the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP) expanded model, starting January 1, 2018. Here is the final rule and the press release that goes along with it.

The federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force has released its final report. In the final report, the task force included a series of actions and recommendations to help ensure better implementation of parity; help consumers, providers, and plans understand how parity works; and ensure appropriate oversight and enforcement of parity protections.

Shannon Sheppard, MPH, an Outreach Specialist with KEPRO, a Quality Improvement Organization, wrote last week to say there are some time changes for providers regarding quality of care reviews. Here is more information.

Denver-area Healthcare organization RT Welter and Associates also printed the 2017 Medicare physician fee schedule. They also have their weekly Fun with ICD-10 Codes story, which this week involves cold and stiff joints.

Publications

If you are a part of the Laramie County Medical Society then the name Ken Finn is not new. Dr. Finn presented on the issues regarding the legalization of marijuana in Colorado during an LCMS meeting this summer. He recently released a study and an op-ed regarding the public health issues being seen in Pueblo this year.

Mountain Pacific Quality Health’s Technology Services group has released a newsletter with tons of information on Meaningful Use and Value-based payments. Included is a Meaningful Use checklist for 2017; Meaningful Use(MU): What are the Alternate Exclusions Available in 2016 for Meaningful Use?; Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs).

The team at Physician Family is proud to announce publication of its Fall 2016 issue, focused on the training years of Residency and Fellowship. The issue is currently available on our website, www.physicianfamilymedia.org.  Seven articles pertain to residents and fellows, while others are of interest to all physician families.

The MLN Connects Provider eNews sent out a Nov. 1 edition involving the fact CMS Finalized its Hospital OPPS Changes to Better Support Hospitals and Physicians and Improve Patient Care. On November 1, CMS finalized updated payment rates and policy changes in the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System for CY 2017. CMS is also adding new quality measures to the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program and the ASC Quality Reporting Program that are focused on improving patient outcomes and experience of care. CMS estimates that the updates in the final rule would increase OPPS payments by 1.7 percent and ASC rates by 1.9 percent in 2017.

The MLN Connects Provider eNews from Nov. 3 offers a number of posts, including information on Updates to Dialysis Facility Compare: Patient Experience Ratings Available, Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program Results for FY 2017 and more.

MLN Connects Provider eNews for Nov. 10 adds another listing of posts including information on Open Payments for Physicians and Teaching Hospitals; Quality Payment Program presentations, and Raising Awareness of Diabetes in November.

Concierge Medicine Today sent its monthly newsletter complete with stories on support for use of whole genome sequencing in concierge medicine, use and application of pharmacogenomics inside concierge medicine, and more.

The American Academy of Family Physicians’ November newsletter includes stories on Patient Attribution; Sharing visit notes, and ICD-10 changes. You will need a password to read this.

Our friends at The Doctors Company published a story called, Maximize your EHR and Improve your Work-Life Balance. Discover how you can streamline patient care and payment workflows in your EHR.

Conferences and Webinars

The American Medical Association(AMA) is offering several educational opportunities to help physicians understand  the requirements of the new Quality Payment Program (QPP) that was created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).   The sessions have been scheduled to give physicians an understanding of  what the final rule means for their practice and what they need to do as part of the QPP.

The scheduled events include:

Mountain Pacific Quality Health offers a Dec. 8 webinar from 1-2 p.m. with Patty Kosednar, HTS Consultant, to review what you need to know and do to successfully attest to Meaningful Use for the 2016 reporting year.  We will also provide an overview of the alignment/conversion of the existing MU program into MACRA/MIPS for 2017.