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American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians News | January 11, 2017
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CMS Releases Penalty Data - National IPM QCDR Can Help you Avoid the Penalties
CMS is out with the latest meaningful use and PQRS noncompliance or penalty numbers.
- 470,000 providers were penalized for PQRS noncompliance
- 209,000 doctors were hit with meaningful use penalty
- Those who do not meet compliance criteria for PQRS will lose 1.5% and those who do not meet criteria for meaningful use will lose 2% of their Medicare reimbursement
This data is very sobering considering each and every one has their plans to combat negative payments. ASIPP is helping you to not only avoid the negative payments, but make substantial bonuses in future years with the National IPM Qualified Clinical Data Registry. A few Big Leaguers have gotten bonuses, but the majority of pain physicians were left out. Now is the time to join the Big Leagues with our National IPM-Qualified Clinical Data Registry (NIPM-QCDR)
ASIPP is well on the way to applying for CMS approval for the NIPM-QCDR in collaboration with ArborMetrix. We have had very healthy sign ups and are on track to gather the required amount of participants' quality data to meet CMS requirements by the end of the year.
To help participants prepare for the coming year, we plan to share many of the proposed measures in early January. If you want to begin collecting your data in your systems based on these preliminary measures, that will help you do so. However, CMS does not confirm measures for new QCDRs until later in the first quarter so we will be able to share final measures then and will begin formal data collection by April 1. We do urge you to begin the process of enrollment now, while ASIPP completes the approval process with CMS.
If you are interested in signing up for the National IPM QCDR, you can respond to this email or send an email to [email protected]. We will then send you registration forms to complete. There is no commitment or cost to you until we are approved for the QCDR for 2017 reporting.
If you have already signed up, please pass along this information to anyone else who could benefit from this opportunity.
As you are well aware, CMS has issued the final rule on its value-based care entitled, "Merit-Based Incentive Payment System Combining Quality Measures, Meaningful Use or Advancing Care Information, Clinical Improvement Activities and Costs." Because of our efforts, CMS has made substantial changes to enable us to avoid penalties. The QCDR reporting mechanism and specifically the NIPM-QCDR will complete the collection and submission of MIPS requirements.
This unique registry developed only for interventional pain physicians by ASIPP will:
- Offer as many as 30 new non-MIPS QCDR measures specially designed by ASIPP for interventional pain management in addition
- Manage submission of both MIPS and non-MIPS QCDR measures
- Support both individual physicians and physician group practices in meeting MIPS requirements.
- Provide documentation and assistance with compiling the needed data for quality improvement
- Provide easily accessible reports and performance updates to registry participants on an ongoing basis as new data is available from your practice
- Allow physicians to review and select measures to report prior to submission
If you have any further questions, we can arrange for you to talk to one of the representatives from ArborMetrix with whose collaboration we are preparing the registry, or you can also attend one of the webinars we will be starting soon.
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LIMITED TO 20 REGISTRANTS
Click HERE to see Brochure
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December Podcast Now Available
On the December ASIPP Podcast we'll hear from ASIPP Chairman of the Board and CEO, Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, about regenerative medicine; in the news segment we'll learn about a resurgence in the use of nitrous oxide, the latest medical marijuana news, a story about painkillers and hearing loss, and much more; and we'll wrap things up with a study about eye trauma and Laurel and Hardy movies.
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Webinar: The New CMS Quality Payment Program MACRA-MIPs/APMs Emphasizing Pain Management 2017
The Final Rule of the CMS Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, MIPS, and Alternative Payment Models, APMs, was published on 10/14/16, and is ~ 2,300 pages. Identified as the Quality Payment Program, QPP, it is extensive in scope to reward or penalize providers for performing certain measures in four performance categories. The four categories are: (1) Quality(2) Cost(3) Improvement Activities, and (4) Advancing Care Information. The four categories result in a final score of between 0 to 100 points. Depending on the provider's final score, a penalty/reward is assessed, or the provider remains neutral. For 2017 the penalty is 4%, but the bonus could be 3 to 4 times that amount. MIPS replaces PQRS, MU, and the VM (value modifier) programs, but rolls these same programs into the 3 performance categories above and the new category, Improvement Activities. This Webinar should educate physicians and their managers on how to understand and potentially achieve high scores in the new Quality Payment Program and avoid costly penalties in their Medicare Part B claims.
This webinar will explain and review:
QUALITY PAYMENT PROGRAM (QPP)
1. MACRA - MIPs / APMs
a. Components of MIPs
- QUALITY, ACI (Advancing Care Information), IA
(Improvement Activity), RU (Resource Use)
- Scoring
2. PROVIDE GUIDANCE ON OBTAINING
THE QUALITY RESOURCE USE REPORT, QRUR
a. A comparative report prepared by CMS for attributing the cost to care to physicians and groups used to determine resource use in 2018
b. Obtaining an EIDM portal thru Medicare
WEBINAR FEE:
$185
WEBINAR DATE:
January 19, 2017
SPEAKER:
Deborah H. Tracy, MD, MBA
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ICD-10 glitch leads CMS to relax physician quality penalties
The CMS issued something of a get-out-of-Medicare-penalties-free-card for two years to physicians and group practices due to a glitch with quality reporting measures based on a recent update to the ICD-10 diagnosis and procedure codes.
The CMS pointed its finger at updates that went into use Oct. 1, 2016, to the ICD-CM (Clinical Modification) and ICD-PCS (Procedural Coding System) and their impact on the Physician Quality Reporting System.
The updates "will impact CMS's ability to process data reported on certain quality measures for the 4th quarter of CY 2016," the agency said in a statement posted on its website.
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Donald Trump Pressures Republicans to Repeal, Replace Health Law at Same Time
WASHINGTON-President-elect Donald Trump is increasing pressure on congressional Republicans to vote at the same time to both repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but party leaders haven't indicated any shift in strategy to make that happen.
Mr. Trump's push, combined with doubts from different factions of Republicans, could end up slowing down party leaders' efforts to rapidly overturn much of the law.
Mr. Trump, who backs simultaneously repealing and replacing the 2010 health-care law, is finding allies in the Senate, where a half-dozen Republicans are worried about repealing the law without having a replacement plan ready.
"I believe we should vote on replacement the same day we vote on repeal," Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said in an interview Monday. Mr. Trump called the senator on Friday night "to say he agrees completely," Mr. Paul said.
Access to this article may be limited.
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Long-Acting Opioid Painkiller Gains FDA Approval
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved morphine sulfate extended-release tablet (Arymo ER/Egalet) to treat severe pain that warrants "daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment."
The decision follows a favorable recommendation vote during an independent panel of advisors in August: 18-1 recommended Arymo ER be labeled as "an abuse-deterrent product."
FDA classifies recall of IV Flush Syringes by Nurse Assist as Class I
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 4, 2017, classified the recall by Nurse Assist (Haltom City, Texas) of its IV Flush Syringes as Class I, the most serious.
The recall was initiated because of a potential link to Burkholderia cepacia blood stream infections with the syringes.
The lots being recalled were distributed between February 16 and September 30, 2016.
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UnitedHealth's Optum to Acquire Surgical Care Affiliates for $2.3 Billion
UnitedHealth Group Inc.'s Optum health-services arm has agreed to acquire Surgical Care Affiliates Inc. for about $2.3 billion, adding a major surgical company to its growing roster of doctor groups and clinics.
The deal, for a mixture of cash and stock, substantially expands the health-care provider footprint of UnitedHealth, which is already the parent of the biggest U.S. health insurer, UnitedHealthcare.
The acquisition represents a continued bet on physician services at a time when Republicans' plans to unwind the Affordable Care Act have created uncertainty for many health-care providers, particularly hospitals, which potentially stand to see a drop-off in insured, paying patients.
Access to this article may be limited.
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Targeted Steroid Injection Via Epidural Catheter vs Standard C7-T1 Approach for Radicular Pain
Results of a randomized trial published in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine show no significant difference in outcomes between a standard cervical interlaminar epidural steroid injection (CIESI) at C7-T1 and CIESI with a targeted epidural catheter for the treatment of cervical radicular pain.1
In treating cervical radicular pain with epidural steroid injection, the transforaminal approach allows direct delivery of the steroid into the nerve root. However, it carries the risk of thromboembolism or injury to the vertebral or radicular artery.2,3 While the CIESI avoids these arteries, it "limits our ability to inject at high levels because the epidural space becomes narrow, such that dural puncture or direct spinal cord trauma are possible consequences," explained principal investigator Zachary McCormick, MD, an assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation in the department of orthopaedic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.4,5
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Efficacy of Lumbopelvic Stabilization Training for Low Back Pain
For patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain conditions, lumbopelvic stabilization training (LPST) has a therapeutic effect on pain modulation, according to a study published online on January 2 in Pain Practice.1
Aatit Paungmali, PhD, from the Chiang Mai University in Thailand, and colleagues examined the effects of LPST on pain threshold and pain intensity, compared with the passive automated cycling intervention and control intervention in a cohort of 25 patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. Participants received all 3 types of experimental interventions randomly, with 48 hours between sessions.
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HIPAA Audits Expose Providers' Weaknesses
The first round of HIPAA audits by the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that providers are still not doing some of the most basic tasks required by the law. More than half of those audited failed to complete a risk assessment, a main tenet of HIPAA. Many are not addressing weaknesses found in a risk analysis. And others still do not have business associate agreements in place with required vendors.
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National Spine & Pain Centers Aquires Premier Pain and Specialty Anesthesia Associates
NSPC has recently acquired one of the top pain and anesthesia practices in NJ, Premier Pain and Specialty Anesthesia Associates. This addition expands their service offering at seven convenient locations throughout New Jersey.
National Spine & Pain Centers is a bronze sponsor of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.
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State Society News
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