California Oncology Weekly
"Where California Oncologists Go For Answers!"
A publication of the
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California, Inc.
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This Weekly's Hot Topics
- Advocate for your business and industry this legislative session. California News
- California Oncology Weekly will no longer be e-distributed to ANCO members. ANCO News
- The US Supreme Court will hear case on PBMs. National News
- Tomorrow! Direct Contracting model's payment methodology webinar. CMS News
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- The state legislature reconvened last week. Are you ready to advocate for your business and industry this legislative session? Do you know which legislators represent your district? You can find them using the California Chamber of Commerce's Impact California website here.
Elected officials want to hear from the constituents they represent! Whether you stop by one of their offices or send them an email, taking the first step to establish a relationship is key.
There are several different ways to contact your legislators; 1) SET UP A MEETING at their Capitol or District offices. Find your representatives through their websites through Impact California's Find Your Legislator page or the Senate and Assembly's websites; 2) EMAIL your legislators through their website using the links above. 3) SEND A LETTER to your legislator through Impact California's Action Center. Bills will be uploaded to the Action Center this week. To send a letter, enter your contact information, click continue, and a prewritten letter will instantly be sent! 4) CALL your legislators using the Action Center or find their office phone numbers on their website. 5) CONNECT over social media. Almost 100% of the state's representatives are present on some form of social media. You can tweet them directly using Twitter or contact them on Facebook using its Town Hall function. To learn more about Facebook's Town Hall, visit Impact California's website for a breakdown of how to utilize it here.
- Your representatives are in their offices now and they want to hear from you! Read the article on PBMs under National News, below. Use this topic, and tweet, to introduce yourself to your legislator and open a dialogue with them.
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- Noridian/JEMAC has the following updates on their website
Publications:
* National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI)
* Quality Payment Program: Check Your Final 2019 MIPS Eligibility Status
* Quality Payment Program: MIPS Low-Volume Threshold Criteria for 2019
* Self-Administered Drug Exclusion List-R16
* Billing and Coding: Nerve Blockade for Treatment of Chronic Pain and Neuropathy-R2
* AUC for Advanced Diagnostic Imaging-Educational and Operations Testing Period-Claims Processing Requirements-Revised CR11268
* Update to Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapters 1, 23, and 35 CR10882
Forthcoming Noridian JEMAC meetings/webinars/workshop
* What's New in the First Quarter 2020-After Hours Webinar-(January 14)
* New Opt-Out Process Webinar (January 15)
* Modifier 59, NCCI and MUEs Webinar (January 16)
* Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Webinar (January 29)
* Submitting Your Enrollment Online Part 1(I&A) Webinar (February 26)
* Common Error when Enrolling in Medicare Webinar (March 4)
* Submitting Your Enrollment Online Part 2 *(PECOS) Webinar (March 18)
* Rebuttal, Reconsiderations and CAPS Webinar (April 8)
* Medicare Part A/B Revalidation Webinar (April 22)
For more information and to register visit:
http://med.noridianmedicarecom/web/jeb/education/training-events
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- MOASC has secured a special PHYSICIAN'S encore webinar with the California Medicare contractor Medical Director, Arthur Lurvey, MD, FACP, FACE, who will present Getting Ready for Medicare in 2020 and 2021, January 22, 2020 at 5:30pm-PST. Physicians, NPP's and all interested staff are welcome. The webinar affords physicians to enter into live dialogue and Q&A with the California Medicare medical director. For more information, and to register for this webinar, contact the MOASC office at
moasc@moasc.org
or call 909-985-9061 x1.
- Mark your calendar for the MOASC Spotlight on Hematology on Saturday, February 1, 2020, 9am to 2pm, at The Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach. Through a grant from MOASC, UCI brings speakers from UCI, Loma Linda and City of Hope to present the highlights from ASH's Annual Meeting & Exposition. Contact the MOASC office at 909-985-9061 ext.1 or
moasc@moasc.org
or
www.moasc.org
- Come celebrate MOASC's 30th Anniversary and listen to the
"Exciting Advances in Oncology"
as the focus of the MOASC 2020 Annual Oncology Summit Educational Symposium
, Saturday, March 14, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. Speakers will highlight advances in several areas of oncology including melanoma, lymphoma, breast, colon, prostate, kidney, and lung cancers, among others. To register, contact the MOASC office at
moasc@moasc.org
or 909-985-9061 x1. #MOASC30
- MOASC Member, City of Hope CME presents: Immunotherapy of Cancer: CAR T Cell to Checkpoint Inhibitors, March 18, 2020 to March 21, 2020 at the Waldorf Astoria, Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information click
here
. To register go to
https://cme.cityofhope.org/eventinfo_11295.html
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- ANCO members are encouraged to provide feedback on California's CURES program by completing a recently e-mailed UC Davis
survey
. The e-mail was from the Medical Board of California.
-
REGISTER
for the 20th Multidisciplinary Management of Cancers: A Case-based Approach
taking place in Napa on March 13-15.
- In order to streamline the amount of e-mail sent from ANCO, the California Oncology Weekly will no longer be e-distributed to ANCO members.
However, ANCO members may read current editions of the California Oncology Weekly online under the Member Portal at
https://anco.org/anco-report
.
- Follow ANCO on Twitter at
@ANCO News
.
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National News
- January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month!
This is a chance for women to start the year with healthy actions that can help prevent cervical cancer. Find out more with CDC's cervical cancer resources. Read More
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The
US Supreme Court will hear the case against PBMs
in the case of Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA). This is based upon whether an Arkansas statute Act 900 of 2015, that sought to regulate rates charged by PBMs, is preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ERISA. The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed enforcement of the Arkansas law. The law would require PBMs to reimburse physicians and pharmacies at a price at least equal to what the provider and pharmacist had paid for the medication. Including provisions that would disclose hidden profit motives of PBMs to consumers, physicians and pharmacies.
The Solicitor General in December
recommended the Supreme Court overturn the appeals court decision to block this important law. The Court will likely hear oral arguments in early spring. It will render a decision before the end of June, which marks the end of the Court's current term.
- The California Pharmacists Association has tweeted out a new video to raise awareness about PBMs putting profits over patients and disregarding patient choice to access drug through their physician's office and their community pharmacies. Please share and retweet this video to spread the word about PBMs and their predatory business practices. You can click here to retweet.
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CMS News
- TOMORROW, January 15, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) will host a webinar on an overview of the Direct Contracting model's payment methodology. During the session, the Direct Contracting model team will present on key aspects of the Direct Contracting financial model, such as its risk-sharing options and risk mitigation strategies, as well as its capitation and other advanced payment alternatives. The forum will also provide an opportunity for potential applicants to ask the team questions regarding these topics and other topics related to the model application.
Session information and registration link are included below.
Direct Contracting Payment Part 1 Webinar is
January 15, 2020; 10:00am - 12:00pm PST
Register to attend (corrected link):
Other upcoming Direct Contracting events:
- Get paid. Use Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs) now. If you do not use MBIs on claims (with a few
exceptions) after January 1, regardless of the date of service, you will get:
Electronic claims reject codes: Claims Status Category Code of A7 (acknowledgment rejected for invalid information), a Claims Status Code of 164 (entity's contract/member number), and an Entity Code of IL (subscriber)
Paper claims notices: Claim Adjustment Reason Code (CARC) 16 "Claim/service lacks information or has submission/billing error(s)" and Remittance Advice Remark Code (RARC) N382 "Missing/incomplete/invalid patient identifier"
Search for ICD-10-CM codes; How to use the codes; Access multiple fiscal year version sets with comprehensive results.
- The Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) has gathered telehealth related information and guidance issued by the
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and combined the materials into a single resource compilation. Medicare telehealth policy is in the Medicare Learning Network (MLN)'s Booklet on Telehealth Services, issued at the beginning of each year. Occasionally, questions arise regarding telehealth reimbursement not addressed in the Booklet, or CMS issues supplemental MLN documents. The purpose of CCHP's compilation is to consolidate all of this information into one reference resource. CMS often responds to questions emailed to them about their telehealth policy through an official letter sent directly to the entity/person that raised the question. CCHP has gathered the letters that address telehealth-specific questions submitted to CMS by staff from the fourteen Telehealth Resource Centers in this Compilation. Because communication technology based services and chronic care management does not fall under the definition of telehealth in Medicare, there are also separate guidance documents on these topics as well, which are included in CCHP's compilation.
For more information, download CCHP's full compilation of CMS telehealth resources if you are a recipient of one of the telehealth-related letters described above, please feel free to forward to CCHP who will include the letter in future versions of this resource. Email your letters to christinec@cchpca.org.
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Affiliate Association News
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- MOASC member,
The Angeles Clinic,with the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC), will be hosting Advanced CSCC Regional Lecture, featuring Dr. Omid Hamid and Dr. Mark Faries these experts will discuss caring for patients with CSCC and high-risk non-melanoma skin cancers. On February 5, 2020 at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 1700 Los Angeles, CA 90067.*This event is complimentary (dinner to be provided), and seating is limited to the first 50 registrants. Register online at bit.ly/2RAewRn. View invitation HERE
- Join Targeted Oncology™ for a sit-down discussion as experts discuss pathology report findings, patient diagnostic workup, the most likely diagnosis and potential treatment options across multiple cases in a given therapeutic area. A roundtable discussion on Lymphoma on January 14, 2020 at 7PM, Key Opinion leader: Dr. Jasmine Zain from City of Hope. Location: Nick & Stef's Steakhouse - 330 S Hope Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071. A round table discussion on Lymphoma on January 30, 2020 at 7PM, key opinion leader: Dr. Natalie Galanina from UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. Location: George's at the Cove - 1250 Prospect Street, La Jolla, CA 92037. These programs are open to, and intended for medical oncologists treating lymphoma.
A round table discussion on NSCLC / Metastatic NSCLC on February 18, 2020 at 7PM, key opinion leader: Dr. Ashkan Lashkari (Providence Tarzana Medical Center). Location: Estate Restaurant + Bar - 1519 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403. This program is open to, and intended for medical oncologists treating NSCLC/Metastatic NSCLC. RSVP at
- Save the Date! National Cancer Survivors Day® is Sunday, June 7, 2020.
www.ncsd.org
- NCCN has published updated guidelines for bladder cancer and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma at
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Industry News
- Merck announced that the FDA approved Keytruda for the treatment of patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ (CIS) with or without papillary tumors who are ineligible for or have elected not to undergo cystectomy.
MOASC & ANCO contribute to the information in this section
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MOASC CALENDAR
Spotlight On Hematology
February 1, 2020
City of Hope CME presents: Immunotherapy of Cancer: CAR T Cell to Checkpoint Inhibitors
March 18-21, 2020
(Stanford, April 2-3, 2020)
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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 material contained in the
California Oncology Weekly
is intended as general information for 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 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
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