California
Oncology
Weekly
"Where California Oncologists Go For Answers!"
A collaborative publication of the
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California, Inc.
and the
Association of Northern California Oncologists, Inc
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- Meet Friday's deadline, April 5, to share your Major Issues with the CMA(California News)
- TODAY April 2, is deadline to submit data and update information for 2018 MIPS (CMS News)
- The deadline to order National Cancer Survivors Day merchandise is this Friday, April 5 (Affiliate Association News)
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- Timothy A. Murphy, MD, DLFAPA, Chair, CMA Specialty Delegation is seeking recommendations for Major Issues to be addressed at the October 2019 California Medical Association's House of Delegates. This is an important opportunity for specialty medicine to have the ear of the house of medicine in California. CMA staff and physician Councils dedicate a great deal of time developing comprehensive reports and actionable recommendations for the Major Issues discussion. Experts are brought in to give presentations to the HOD. Approved recommendations policy and direct CMA's investment of resources. Please send your recommendations to Dr. Murphy as me by this Friday, April 5. You might add a short paragraph supporting your recommendation as an issue that deserves CMA's resources. Any background materials you include will also be submitted.
- Following a state law that went into effect last year, significantly more low-income Californians are using free transportation to get to medical appointments. Ride services were already offered by 17 of the 21 Medi-Cal managed-care health plans in the state. Yet AB 2394, authored by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella, mandated that all enrollees have access to free transportation, whether through ride sharing, vans or public transport. The mandate officially took effect last July for Medi-Cal, California's low-income health plan. Though some 70 percent of Medi-Cal managed-care enrollees already had access to such services, many enrollees were falling through the gaps. Please make sure your patients are aware of this service. Thank you.
- As part of a new law that takes effect in the state July 1, California physicians must provide patients written disclosureif the physician is on probationfor offenses ranging from sexual misconduct to drug abuse. The physician will be required to get a signed disclosure from each patient prior to the patient's next appointment.
Calif. law requires physicians to disclose when they are on probation
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- The California Dialogue on Cancer (CDOC) has planned various events in the coming months, and look forward to partnering with you as they work toward their goal of reducing the cancer burden in California. You can still sign up for a cancer plan subcommittee as well as register for one of the upcoming 2019 CDOC Regional Stakeholder meetings. For those participating in cancer plan development, there is an Instructional Webinar, April 5th, 12 pm - 1 pm PDT. If you are participating in developing content for the cancer plan, this webinar will provide critical information to guide the process. For those unable to attend, it will be recorded. To register click HERE.
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- Noridian/JEMAC has the following updates on their website
Announcements
:
New Medicare Card and MBI Adoption: How Do You Compare?; SNF PPS Patient Driven Payment Model: Get Ready for Implementation on October 1; DME Proof of Delivery Documentation Requirements
Publications:
Billing for Hospital Part B Inpatient Services; Home Health Certification and Recertification Policy Changes; ASCO Payment System: April 2019 Update; Hospital OPPS: April 2019 Update; Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Database: April 2019 Update-Revised; Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program: Scoring Methodology; Medicare Enrollment for Physicians and Other Part B Suppliers-Revised;
* Update of the ASC Payment System-April 2019 CR11232
* MUEs Education on Demand Tutorial Available
* MBI Look-Up Tool Available on the Noridian Medicare Portal NMP
* Revalidation Webpage Improvements
* Quarterly ASP Medicare Part B Drug Pricing Files and Revisions to Prior Quarterly Pricing Files-July 2019 CR11225
* MSI Reminder: There is Still Time to Evaluate Our Services MSI
* Changes to the Laboratory National Coverage Determination (NCD) Edit Software for July 2019 CR11224
* NMP Required Use for Duplicate Remittance Advice Retrieval-Effective May 28, 2019
Forthcoming Noridian JEMAC meetings/webinars/workshops include:
* Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF) Enrollment Webinar (April 10)
* Preventive and Screening Services Webinar (April 23)
* Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Webinar (April 24)
* What's New in the Second Quarter 2019 Webinar (April 25)
* Preventive and Screening Services after Hours Webinar (April 25)
* Submitting Your Enrollment Online-Part 1 Webinar (I&A; May 29)
* Submitting Your Enrollment Online-Part 2 Webinar (PECOS; June 26)
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- SAVE-THE-DATE for MOASC's Spotlight On Oncology, August 17, 2019 in Huntington Beach.
Through a restricted grant from MOASC, selected oncology fellows and faculty from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), present the premier topics from their attendance at the 2019 Annual ASCO meeting. The presentations promote collegial discourse among colleagues along with networking in an informal setting. Contact the MOASC Office for more information at
moasc@moasc.org
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- ANCO is reinventing itself--an announcement was sent to all physician members, practice contacts, and corporate member representatives introducing a rebranded ANCO with a new e-mail address, a new website, and new communication channels and strategies at the end of March.
- Download the presentations from the 19th Multidisciplinary Management of Cancers: A Case-Based Approach at
- ANCO is organizing a series of Hematologic Malignancies Updates in 2019 on May 18 in Palo Alto, September 14, in Sacramento, and November 16 in San Francisco. These Updates are supported by AstraZeneca, Celgene, Janssen Oncology, Pharmacyclics, and Takeda Oncology. Watch for the first meeting announcement in late March; register online at http://www.anco-online.org/2Q2019HemeMaligUpdates.pdf
- thesecondopinion has been serving the California cancer community for 50 years by providing free, comprehensive second opinions to cancer patients and their families. They will celebrate the anniversary with an informational and educational luncheon on Thursday, May 9, that will feature a presentation by Charles Graeber, author of The Breakthrough: Immunotherapy and the Race to Cure Cancer. For more information, visit www.thesecondopinion.org or call (415) 775-9956.
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National News
- Your help is needed. Public comments are due by no later than 8:59 p.m. PDT on April 8, 2019. Please see the attached "Advocacy for Access - Rebate-Safe Harbor Proposed Rule" summary, along with the live link to make comments on the last page.
Advocacy for Access.
- USP Compounding Courses are now available in a convenient eLearning format. If you are a compounding expert such as a pharmacist, pharmacy technician, nurse, physician, take these courses to help support your understanding of USP standards pertaining to quality compounding and the safe handling of hazardous drugs. These self-paced, interactive eLearning courses are created by the scientists and experts who help develop the USP standards that are used worldwide.
For more information on these offerings or any other course-
Phone: +1-301-230-6304
- Virginia and West Virginia are the first states to ban "Co-pay Accumulators. Insurers like co-pay accumulator programs to negate drug-manufacturer coupons, but momentum is growing in states to outlaw them.
Read More >
- MOASC is asking if you have an instance of the application of a copay accumulator, please contact the MOASC Office
moasc@moasc.org
with your experience.
Even if the patient name is redacted, it would go a long way in helping MOASC & ANCO, the California Cancer Caucus and many other patient and provider advocacy organizations' work on legislation to limit their use.
Thank you.
- Are you being given the run around on prior authorizations or post payment audits by your patient's healthplan PBM?
COA NEEDS ANY NEW STORIES about any PBM bad behavior, in preparation for the Senate Finance Committee hearing on PBMs scheduled for next week. It is expected that representatives from the top 5 PBMs will be testifying. The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is going to provide key Senate offices with information on all aspects of PBM bad behavior, including patient medication delays and denials, DIR fees, patient trolling, network exclusions, etc., etc., etc. COA is going to go all out with legislative, legal, and media efforts to make sure your stories get out. COA already has a lot of stories and will produce more new stories before the hearing. This is a golden opportunity to expose PBM bad behavior and how it adversely impacts the treatment of people with cancer, especially seniors with Medicare coverage. Please help by getting COA any stories. Please send your stories to Ricky Newton at rnewton@COAcancer.org with a copy to Deandra Dickson ddickson@COAcancer.org.
COA needs your stories ASAP!!!
COA has worked very hard to bring PBM bad behavior to light and it is starting to pay off.
Please help!!!
Thank you.
- Are you STILL paying exorbitant DIR Fees? The Community Oncology Pharmacy Association (COPA,) and law firm Frier Levitt, are continuing to fight DIR Fees. (DIR fees are fees assessed by PBMs to dispensing pharmacies (or physicians) ostensibly as a payment for fulfillment or non-compliance with quality measures - also sometimes felt to be a fee for network participation (or"pay to play"). DIR fees are often billed months following the dispensing of the drug, and are amounting to significant costs.) Express Scripts, Caremark, CVS, Humana, and Optimum Rx are charging DIR Fees and calling them quality measures. However, DIR Fees are not applicable in oncology. Yet, the PBM's are charging the fees and keeping the money. COPA is asking for your help. They need practices to enter their numbers into the COA Analyzer Benchmarking tool at www.coaanalyzer.net to determine the true numbers. The portal is secure. There is no patient information nor sensitive financial information to share. Just your PBM's DIR Fee amounts. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact
Ricky Newton at
rnewton@COAcancer.org
.
Thank you for your contribution to assisting all oncology practice pharmacy dispensaries, including your own!
- UnitedHealthcare April 2019 Network Bulletin is available. The Bulletin is UHC's monthly publication that features timely updates on programs and policies, and important administrative and clinical information for care providers.
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CMS News
- TODAY April 2, is the deadline for MIPS eligible clinicians who participated in Year 2 (2018) of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) to submit their data and update information, with the following exceptions:
For clinicians who reported Quality measures via Medicare Part B claims throughout the 2018 performance year, CMS will receive your quality data from claims processed by your Medicare Administrative Contractor, and claims for services furnished during 2018 must be processed within 60 days after the end of the 2018 performance period. CMS Web Interface users need to report their Quality performance category data between January 22 and March 22, 2019. Submit your 2018 MIPS data by visiting the QPP website and log-in using your QPP access credentials. CMS encourages clinicians to log in early to get familiar with the system. Please note, clinicians who are not sure if they are eligible to participate in the QPP can check eligibility status using the QPP Participation Status Tool. For more information about how to submit data, please review resources available in the QPP Resource Library. CMS also recently posted new 2019 resources to the library, be sure to check the full list. If you need further assistance, please contact the QPP by phone at 1-866-288-8292, (TTY) 1-877-715-6222, QPP@cms.hhs.gov, or via a local technical assistance organization offering no-cost support.
- CMS has released the 2018 Quality Payment Program (QPP) Experience Report, which provides a comprehensive overview of the clinician reporting experience during the first year of the QPP. Data within the Report show significant participation and performance in both the MIPS and APM tracks of the 2017 performance year. Ninety-five percent of clinicians eligible for MIPS participated in the program and avoided a negative payment adjustment and most of those who did participate earned a positive payment adjustment. Download the full Report at
https://qpp.cms.gov/about/resource-library
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Affiliate Association News
- The deadline to order official NCSD merchandise has been extended to Friday, April 5. On Sunday, June 2, tens of thousands of people will gather in cities across the globe to pay tribute to the cancer survivors living in their communities and raise awareness of the ongoing challenges they continue to face. This day will mark the 32nd annual National Cancer Survivors Day®. If you want to bring the celebration to your city, now is the time to start planning. The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation has put together an online planning guide at ncsd.org to help get you started. This free guide has everything you need to plan and promote your local NCSD event. But you must register your event to take advantage of these free resources. Registration is free, and it only takes a couple of minutes.
- The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) application period for the Certification Exams being held at the AONN+ Midyear Conference in San Diego ends April 26. The test date will be May 16. The AONN+ Midyear Conference takes place in San Diego from May 17-19. Learn more at
https://aonnonline.org/certification
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- Inland Empire Oncology Nursing Society is proud to announce the upcoming 5th Annual Education Fair
for all medical professionals on May 18&19 at the Downtown Marriott in Riverside, CA.
from 8:00am to 3:00pm.
The Nursing Education agenda is geared toward oncology professionals - however the information is valuable in all aspects of nursing and care-giving. There is not one among us who has not been impacted by the effects of cancer in a loved one, friend or colleague.
Registration for ONS members is $55.00.
Registration for NON-ONS members is $65.00.
Your paid registration includes, breakfast, lunch, give-aways, parking and 5 CEU's
- The deadline for submitting a research proposal is April 30. ASCO seeks applications for research grants for projects that use data from CancerLinQ Discovery, an offering of ASCO's CancerLinQ initiative, as a source. CancerLinQ Discovery provides curated sets of de-identified data from cancer patients to academic researchers, government agencies, and others in the oncology community to generate practical knowledge that will improve care. With grants of $32,500 each, ASCO will provide early and mid-career clinical oncology and health service investigators with real-world evidence that can inform their research. Research topics may include--but are not limited to--adoption of treatment guidelines across the U.S.; development of quality measures with the highest impact for clinical care; measuring the impact of educational programs on clinical practices; supportive evidence for informing ASCO policy priorities; or novel research on other topics. For more information,
visit www.conquer.org/cancerlinq-discovery-research-support-grant.
- COA members and leadership were recently featured in a Medscape Medical News article about the "major" negative impact pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are having on the lives of patients with cancer lives and on how oncologists deliver care.
- The COA Fellows Initiative seeks to engage and educate oncology/hematology fellows on the value of practicing in the community setting. As fellows begin to make decisions about where to practice, the initiative is designed to explore, in detail, the opportunities community oncology presents. Starting this year, COA will be partnering with medical schools across the country who are interested in developing or enriching their oncology/hematology fellows programs, incorporating details on new oncology care models, pilots, employer collaborations, legislative happenings and other significant events that will impact the delivery of cancer care in America.
- ASCO is pleased to invite you to their 2019 Annual Meeting being held May 31 - June 4 in Chicago.
- Data abstraction for ASCO's QOPI Round 1 will close on June 3. Round 1 final reports will be available approximately two weeks after the round closes. Learn more at
- ASCO's Oncology Practice Conference takes place in San Diego on September 6. Focused on the business of cancer care, this conference will address the needs of practice administration and operations, with timely and practice strategies for the challenges faced by al those involved in the business of cancer care. Learn more and register at
https://meetings.asco.org/opc/register
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- Join ASH on September 6-7, 2019, at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park for the 2019 ASH Meeting on Hematologic Malignancies to gain knowledge that can help you make an immediate impact in your practice. The meeting will feature top experts in the field, comprehensive clinical content, the latest clinical research, and opportunities to interact with colleagues in an intimate, small-group setting with no competing sessions. The program content will be structured as "How I Treat" presentations, which will showcase each speaker's evidence-based treatment approaches, present cutting-edge scientific data that can be translated into new strategies for diagnosis and treatment, and address what to do in cases where there is no data. For more details or to register, please visit the
ASH Website
.
- The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)
Cancer Immunotherapy Guidelines Head and Neck Subcommittee invites public comment
on the draft consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC). Submit your comments by April 14 at
www.sitcancer.org/research/cancer-immunotherapy-guidelines/comment
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- NCCN has published the following updates
at www.nccn.org
:
anal cancer (V1.2019), central nervous system (CNS) cancers (V1.2019), cervical cancer (V3.2019), chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (V4.2019), colon cancer (V1.2019), esophageal and esophagogastric junction cancers (V1.2019), gastric cancer (V1.2019), gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (V1.2019), head and neck cancers (V1.2019), hematopoietic growth factors (V2.2019), non-small cell lung cancer (V3.2019), ovarian cancer (V1.2019), prostate cancer (V1.2019), rectal cancer (V1.2019), survivorship (V1.2019), T-cell lymphomas (V2.2019), thyroid carcinoma (V1.2019), uterine cancer (V3.2019), vulvar cancer (V2.2019).
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- Genentech has announced that the FDA approved Tecentriq (atezolizumab), in combination with carboplatin and etoposide (chemotherapy), for the initial (first-line) treatment of adults with extensive-stage small lung cancer (ES-SCLC). It is the first new initial treatment option approved by the FDA for people with ES-SCLC in more than 20 years. The Genentech press release, including Important Safety Information is linked here, and a statement issued by the FDA about the approval is linked here. To learn more about our perspective on important topics in lung cancer and immunotherapy, visit the Genentech cancer immunotherapy and lung cancer topics pages.
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MOASC CALENDAR
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New Directions in the Management of Recurrent Ovarian Cancer (UC Davis, Sacramento, April 16; register via e-mail to bamathews@ucdavis.edu
)
(NCCN, San Francisco, September 27-28)
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The
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California
(MOASC) is a leading oncology society that advances and protects the ability of cancer patients to obtain, and the ability of the oncology physicians to provide, optimal cancer care. The
Association of Northern California Oncologists
(ANCO) is an association of hematologists/oncologists dedicated to promoting high professional standards of cancer care by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, data, and knowledge.
The material contained in the
California Oncology Weekly
is intended as general information for ANCO and MOASC members. Because diagnostic, treatment, contracting, coding, and billing decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, any such information contained in the
California Oncology Weekly
may not apply in any given situation. Members are encouraged to contact their own consultants or advisors to obtain specific advice on matters relating to contracting, coding, and billing. The information contained in
California Oncology Weekly
should not be used as a substitute for such advice.
This publication provides a summary of regulations affecting oncology and its business practices. Reading this newsletter does not substitute for understanding regulations and verifying the validity of every claim. This information is time-sensitive and is subject to change. MOASC or ANCO accepts no liability for any statements or articles herein.
CPT codes are owned and trademarked by the American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
MOASC: P.O. Box 161, Upland, CA 91785 | P (909) 985-9061 | F (909) 804-5006| www.moasc.org
ANCO: P.O. Box 151109, San Rafael, CA 94915 | P (415) 472-3960 | F (415) 472-3961 | www.anco-online.org
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