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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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This Weekly's Hot Topics
- Oncology Care Model & USP Pharmacy Regulations in Oncology (MOASC News)
- Investigation of four health insurers for false claims to Medicare (National News)
- Expanded indications for Revlimid and Keytruda (Industry News)
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California News
- The California Medical Association (CMA), in partnership with the California Dental Association (CDA), unveiled a budget proposal to improve access to medical and dental care for the state's 14.3 million Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal patients. The proposal focuses on targeted Medi-Cal investments to increase the number of doctors - both physicians and dentists - who participate in these programs and enable them to accept more patients in order to improve Medi-Cal patients' access to care provided in California.
Read More
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- Multi-Factor Authentication Required on Noridian Medicare Portal - Beginning April 1, 2017.
Beginning April 1, 2017 the Noridian Medicare Portal (NMP) will require a multi-factor authentication (MFA) process for users each time you need to log into NMP. MFA adds a second layer of security to your NMP account.
Read the complete update
.
- Noridian/JEMAC has posted the following updates to its website
* MLN Connects Provider News
Announcements
-- Clinical Laboratories: Report Lab Data through March 31; Rerun Your Quality Measure Reports
Claims, Pricers, and Codes
--April 2017 Average Sales Price Files
- Forthcoming Noridian/JEMAC webinars
* Noridian Medicare Portal Functionality for Part B Providers (March 23)
* Reopenings Webinar (March 28)
* Noridian Medicare Portal Registration for Part B Providers (April 4)
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- DHCS/Medi-Cal has announced that it will extend the deadline for Medi-Cal meaningful use reporting for the 2016 program year to May 2. After that date, DHCS will only accept 2017 attestations.
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- THIS SATURDAY, March 25, 2017, DON'T MISS the 2nd Annual UC Irvine Health Hematology Symposium, presented by the Department of Pathology and the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, Anaheim, CA.
Topics will include: * Molecular diagnostics in selected disorders; * Myelodysplastic syndrome;
* Primer on flow cytometry for the general practitioner; * Venous thromboembolism;* Approach to the evaluation of anemia;* Selected vector-borne diseases;* Lupus anticoagulant and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. For registration or more information please contact Dannielle Lampkin at
[email protected]
or 714-456-8621 or visit the Hematology Symposium registration website,
http://pathology.uci.edu/hema-symposium/
- Wednesday, March 29th at 12:00pm Pacific time, MOASC's Lunchtime Series will present, Dawn Holcombe, FACMPE MBA ACHE, President, DGH Consulting, Director, NAMCP Medical Directors Oncology Institute, and Executive Director, Connecticut Oncology Association. Ms. Holcombe will be discussing the Oncology Care Model. What lessons can we learn from those who have broken ground with the OCM expectations over the last several months? What changed in the MIPS Final Rule that affect oncology physicians? You know the basics about MIPS, but what are the specifics? What decisions do you need to make tomorrow? What actions will you want to take to start preparing for beyond 2017?
As a bonus, you will receive a short update on the impact of the USP Pharmacy Regulations on Oncology. RSVP to
[email protected]
or by calling 909-985-9061 ext. 1.
- Thank you to those who joined us at the MOASC Oncology Summit, held on Saturday, March 11, 2017, at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. Discussions by locally recognized experts in the field of non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer & multiple myeloma to diagnostic testing, specialty pharma and MACRA, all converged into a successful even. MOASC would like to thank our meeting sponsors for their support of this program: Alexion, Amgen, Astrazeneca, Bayer, Caris Life Science,Celgene, City of Hope, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Foundation Medicine, Guardant Health, Genentech, Helsinn Therapeutics, Merck, Myriad, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva, Walgreens for their sponsorship of this meeting.
A synopsis of the event can be viewed in its entirety here:
Oncology Summit
JOB BOARD
:
Hematology-Oncology Physician Opportunity
- Bakersfield, CA
Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center (CBCC) has an immediate opening for a Hematology-Oncology specialist.
Requirements: California medical license in good standing with no past negative actions. BC/BE in Hematology/Oncology and authorized to work in the United States.
CBCC is a 100,000 ft outpatient comprehensive cancer center with 200+ team members providing support. CBCC is one of approximately 200 physician group practices nationwide participating in the OCM project, a model designed to support higher quality and more coordinated cancer care. Please see our website
www.cbccusa.com
for a detailed listing of services offered.
Our comprehensive team of experts includes:
6 hematology and medical oncologists; 2 radiation oncologists; 2 dermatologist/Mohs surgeons
1 ENT surgeon; 1 Pain management physician; 1 Infectious Disease specialist; 1 Naturopathic physician; 7 mid-levels; 1 onsite Radiologist with offsite support; 1 LCSW; Mind-Body medicine
Certified patient navigators and genetic counselor; Onsite physician dispensary.
Please submit all inquiries to:
Anthony LaMacchia, Comprehensive Blood & Cancer Center, 6501 Truxtun Avenue,
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- ANCO is organizing a series of Hematologic Malignancies Updates in 2017. The first Update will take place on May 6 at the Sacramento Hyatt Regency on May 6 with Mehrdad Abedi, M.D., University of California, Davis, Sandy Wong, M.D., University of California, San Francisco, and Julian Davis, M.D., University of California, Davis. The latest research on novel treatment modalities for hematologic malignancies, myeloma, and amyloidosis, along with case studies for these diagnoses, will be presented. These updates are supported by Janssen Biotech, Merck, Pfizer Oncology, and Pharmacyclics. Watch for a meeting announcement in late March.
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- The federal government is investigating whether four health insurers have submitted false claims to Medicare, much as Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group was accused of doing in a whistleblower case unsealed last month. Prosecutors joined a lawsuit alleging that UnitedHealth Group and health plans that hired one of the company's subsidiaries received hundreds of millions, if not billions, in overpayments due to false claims and statements relating to risk adjustment payments in Medicare. In a court filing this week, prosecutors disclosed ongoing investigations involving four other health insurers - Aetna, Health Net, Humana and a division of Cigna.
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- The Senate voted 55-43 to confirm Seema Verma as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- With an anticipated completion date of April 3, as a reminder, CMS is now phasing out the Road to 10 site. CMS has merged all up-to-date content from their Road to 10 website to the main ICD-10 site, cms.gov/ICD10, to streamline access to resources. In preparation for the merge, please be sure to update all bookmarks and links for Roadto10.org to point to cms.gov/ICD10.
Keep Up to Date on ICD-10.
Visit the CMS ICD-10 websitefor the latest news and official resources. Sign up for CMS ICD-10 Email Updates and follow uson Twitter.
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Affiliate Association News
- The third webinar in ASH's free, five-part series on the 2017 ASH Meeting on Hematologic Malignancies (MHM) will feature a discussion on the state of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with three renowned clinicians in the area of MDS
. The webinar will focus on how clinical practice has evolved in recent years, important conclusions from last year's meeting, and what to expect at the meeting in September. At the end of the webinar, participants will be able to submit questions during a Q&A session. Register Here.
- If you were contacted to participate, in ASCO's survey that will examine the specific roles and responsibilities of APPs within the cancer care delivery, ASCO urges members to complete the survey and return it as instructed by March 29. The survey should take 20 minutes or less to complete. This survey will help to better understand the contributions of advanced practice providers (APPs) working in oncology. Read more about the survey at www.asco.org/advocacy-policy/asco-in-action/new-survey-advanced-practice-providers-oncology-launched..
1)The packed agenda covers the timeliest topics in today's community oncology landscape;
2)Hear from national oncology leaders including Skip Burris, MD, Daniel George, MD, and Kavita Patel, MD. The keynote speaker is figure skater and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton;
3)Hear firsthand from national and regional payers, employers, and coalitions as they discuss the latest efforts they are engaged in to move cancer care payment reform forward. The 2017 Conference will feature the sixth Payer Exchange Summit;
4)With a record-setting 1,200+ in attendance, the opportunities to network with physicians, practice administrators, pharmacists, nurses, and thought-leaders in community oncology are unsurpassed.
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NCCN has published updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology
(NCCN Guidelines®), the NCCN Drugs & Biologics Compendium (NCCN Compendium®), and NCCN Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria (NCCN Imaging AUC™) for Hepatobiliary Cancers. These NCCN Guidelines® are currently available as Version 1.2017
; and they have posted to the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates (NCCN Templates®) for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (CLL/SLL) For the complete updated versions of the NCCN Guidelines, NCCN Guidelines with NCCN Evidence Blocks™, the NCCN Compendium®, the NCCN Biomarkers Compendium®, the NCCN Templates®, and the NCCN Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria (NCCN Imaging AUC™), please visit NCCN.org.
Free NCCN Guidelines apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices are now available! Visit NCCN.org/apps.
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- Celgene Corporation informs MOASC & ANCO of the new approval for the use of REVLIMID® (lenalidomide) as maintenance therapy for MM patients after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT). REVLIMID is indicated as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) following autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT). REVLIMID is not indicated and is not recommended for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) outside of controlled clinical trials.
There are 3 simple ways to enroll patients in Celgene Patient Support®
* Call us at 1-800-931-8691, Monday - Thursday, 5am - 4pm Pacific time, and Friday, 5am - 3 pm Pacific time. (translation services available)
* E-mail or fax a completed enrollment form to [email protected] or fax 1-800-822-2496
- Merck informs MOASC & ANCO of the FDA approval of another indication for KEYTRUDA. It is the first FDA approval of KEYTRUDA in a hematologic malignancy.
KEYTRUDA is indicated for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with refractory cHL, or who have relapsed after 3 or more prior lines of therapy. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on tumor response rate and durability of response. Please contact your Merck representative for more information, or contact The Merck Access Program atwww.merckaccessprogram-keytruda.com
or call 855-257-3932 Monday to Friday, between 5
am
and 5
pm
Pacific time.
Prescribing Information Medication Guide.
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| MOASC CALENDAR
LunchTime Series
March 29, 2017
NCCN Meeting in Florida
March 23-25, 2017
COA Annual Meeting
April 27-28, 2017
ASCO National Meeting in Chicago
June 2-6, 2017
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(ASCO, San Francisco, March 16-18, 2017)
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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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