MOASC Programs - Save the Dates - All Times are Pacific

VerdePharmHealth, a MOASC Industry Sponsor, is the first organization of its kind in the U.S., providing comprehensive multi-specialty group purchasing, clinical solutions, and healthcare technology. An introductory webinar on VerdePharmHealth services is scheduled for March 17, 2021 at 6:00pm. 

MOASC’s live virtual Annual Oncology Summit, Exciting Advances in Oncology, will be presented on Saturday, March 27, 7:00 am - 1:00 pm (PST). Please join us for a virtual presentation by nationally recognized speakers, that will follow a multi-tumor approach, reviewing current management strategies and recent advances in Breast cancer, Colorectal-Genitourinary cancers, Thoracic cancer, Lymphoma and Immunotherapy. This will be a great opportunity to learn from experts and network with colleagues. This event is free to all those interested in attending.

MOASC Member, Tanya Siddiqi, MD, Associate Clinical Professor, Director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Program, Department of Hematology & HCT, City of Hope Medical Center, Duarte, CA will present Advances in Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). This free telephone/web education program is scheduled for Wednesday, April 7, 10:00am – 11:30am. Topics to be discussed, are: Current and emerging therapies for CLL; Managing side effects to promote a better quality of life; Impact of COVID-19 on CLL treatment decisions. Register online (below) or by phone (855) 922-1531.

MOASC is partnering with Dr Neil Love and his CME organization, Research To Practice (RTP), for a daylong, live educational event to take place on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

Dr. Love and RTP would like to invite MOASC community oncologists to participate in a case-based recorded 60-minute Zoom interview with Dr. Love, which will be utilized during the live activity. There is an honorarium for your time.

CMA is urging all physicians to contact legislators and urge them to vote yes on these important bills. CMA-sponsored AB 242 would require health plans and insurers to reimburse its contracted health care providers for business expenses that are medically necessary to render treatment to patients, to protect health care workers and to prevent the spread of diseases like COVID-19. SB 250 will reform prior authorization processes and relieve physicians from having to repetitively submit prior authorizations for a set period of time.

The California Assembly Health committee held an informational hearing last week looking at Telehealth Policy in California Post-Pandemic. The purpose of the hearing was to begin discussing which telehealth policy changes made during the pandemic should be made permanent.

Billing and Coding: Complex Drug Administration Coding - R4 - Effective February 18, 2021

Quarterly Update to the NCCI PTP Edits, Version 27.1, Effective April 1, 2021.

The Medicare IVIG Demonstration Project has been extended through December 31, 2023. Beneficiaries enrolled as of November 15, 2020, do not need to re-enroll. New beneficiaries can continue to enroll in accordance with the demonstration procedure.

CMS increased the Medicare payment amount for administering the COVID-19 vaccine. This new and higher payment rate will support important actions taken by providers that are designed to increase the number of vaccines they can furnish each day, including establishing new or growing existing vaccination sites, conducting patient outreach and education, and hiring additional staff. At a time when vaccine supply is growing, CMS is supporting provider efforts to expand capacity and ensure that all Americans can be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible. More information on Medicare payment for COVID-19 vaccine administration – including a list of billing codes, payment allowances and effective dates – is available 

The National Committee for Quality Assurance said that CMS should extend quality improvement measures in Medicare Advantage plans to all value-based care plans and improve quality reporting and data validation through a universal digital quality measurement system. The NCQA wrote in a report sent to HHS that CMS’ value-based plans should align around a few fundamental pillars: integrity (of data and performance assessment); coordination (of structure and expectations across programs with the goal of moving toward systems of care); and collaboration (with all relevant stakeholders in designing and implementing value-based plans).

Hospice care providers are to comply with new CMS rules on patient admission and documentation processes. The new rule requires the hospice team, from trained staff to hospice medical director and the hospice physician in consultation with the team, to notify Medicare beneficiaries, in writing, of services and drugs that aren't covered by their hospice benefits and document why they feel that a particular medication is not related to the terminal illness and related conditions.

Community oncologists are asking Congress to extend the suspension of Medicare sequestration through the end of 2021. With the current sequester pause set to expire at the end of March, you are urged to contact your Congressperson to take action to help independent oncology practices keep their doors open and treat patients with cancer during these unprecedented times. The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) has provided a template for your appeal.

The FDA said it will convene the agency's Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee next month to evaluate six more cancer indications with accelerated approvals after confirmatory trials did not verify clinical benefit. The panel will review indications for Bristol Myers Squibb's Opdivo, Roche's Tecentriq and Merck's Keytruda and will provide a recommendation on whether or not to withdraw the accelerated approvals for the drugs.

Effective April 1, 2021, the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) fee will increase from $6 to $11 annually for a period of two years. The increase will be applied to licenses expiring on or after July 1, 2021, and is assessed at the time of license renewal on specified licensees of the California Start Board of Pharmacy that prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, or Schedule V controlled substances.

The American Medical Association's Current Procedural Terminology Editorial Panel is updating COVID-19 vaccine and administration codes and has made the new codes available in a machine-readable format. The CPT code for Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is 91303, the administration CPT code is 0031A, and short, medium and long descriptors for all authorized COVID-19 vaccines are available online

COVID-19 vaccination providers participating in the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program are required to sign a CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Agreement. Providers are responsible for adhering to all requirements outlined in the agreement, including updated recommendations, requirements, and other guidance provided in the footnoted weblinks incorporated in the agreement. This webpage serves as repository for any updates to the provider agreement including recommendations, requirements, and other guidance. Vaccination providers and organizations must check this site regularly and can sign up below to receive emails any time this page is updated. In addition, this webpage provides other useful information for vaccination providers participating in the program.

The American Board of Internal Medicine said physicians whose maintenance of certification expired last year or will expire in 2021 now have until the end of 2022 to meet full MOC requirements. ABIM diplomates can choose between taking a one-time in-person exam or the new alternative knowledge assessment program, which involves answering a set number of questions quarterly using any device.

HHS has asked the Supreme Court to move the deadline to April 14 (from March 15), giving the department more time to submit a response to the American Hospital Association's request for judicial review of an appeals court ruling upholding the HHS' site-neutral payment rule.

The temporary health insurance subsidy increases in the new American Rescue Plan Act could become permanent if insurers that participate on Affordable Care Act exchanges demonstrate that the subsidies encouraged more people to enroll in health insurance, per Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee at the AHIP National Health Policy Conference. Insurers' outreach and marketing should tout the larger subsidies and send the message that people who shopped before should shop again.

Registration is Open for the 2021 Highlights of ASH Series. This year’s all-virtual experience will take place March 1 – April 2, 2021 and feature program curated annual meeting content derived from all four regions ASH has historically presented in: North America, the Mediterranean, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Attendees will receive full access to the entire program and content on the virtual platform until April 2.

The virtual ASCO Annual Meeting is scheduled for June 4-8, 2021. Register now for the best rates. The early registration deadline is April 28, 2021 at 8:59 PM (PT).

Do not miss the 2021 Community Oncology Conference, April 8 & 9, 2021. See community oncology from a new perspective. This year’s, free, virtual-conference is so much more than just best-in-class educational programs. Not only does the Conference offer unmatched opportunities to hear from key players in the field of oncology, but more importantly, the content is focused on the needs of independent, community oncology practices. Learn about social determinants of health and how other practices are incorporating this data into their workflow. Economics greatly affect how care is provided and successful patient outcomes. Get a deeper understanding of how oncology care can address the community’s needs. There’s something for every member of community oncology, so bring a large contingent from your practice!

MOASC acknowledges and thanks Grail, Inc. as an annual sponsor. Please welcome and THANK them for supporting your organization, when they call or e-mail you. GRAIL, Inc. is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL, Inc. is focused on saving lives and improving health by pioneering new technologies for early cancer detection. The company is using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art computer science to overcome one of medicine’s greatest challenges. GRAIL Inc.’s multi-cancer early detection test Galleri has demonstrated the ability to detect more than 50 types of cancers -- over 45 of which lack recommended screening tests today. 

MOASC acknowledges and thanks G1 Therapeutics, Inc. as an annual sponsor. Please welcome and THANK them for supporting your organization, when they call or e-mail you.

G1 Therapeutics, Inc. is advancing two novel therapies for people living with cancer. Trilaciclib is an investigational therapy designed to reduce chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression for people with cancer. Rintodestrant is a selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) for the treatment of ER+ breast cancer. 

G1 Therapeutics, Inc. and BI announces that the FDA approved COSELA™ (trilaciclib). Cosela decrease the incidence of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression in adult patients when administered prior to a platinum/etoposide-containing regimen or topotecan-containing regimen for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). It is the first and only therapy designed to help protect bone marrow (myeloprotection) when administered prior to treatment with chemotherapy.

Agios Pharmacuticals presents three Virtual Disease Awareness webinars on Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency: An Under recognized Cause of Chronic Hemolytic Anemia on March 23^rd, 31^st and April 8^th.

The FDA has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to permit the emergency use of the unapproved product bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.

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.