Start now to ensure your business processes support MIPS and APM requirements. By Penny Osmon Bahr, BA, CHC, CPC, CPC-I Editor Note: The Merit-based Incentive Program (MIPS) and Advanced Alternate Payment Model (APM) requirements are finalized. And now we’re just weeks away from the start of the first performance period. AAPC has been covering news […]
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Tag Archives: MACRA
Slavitt Says Final MACRA Rule Proves CMS Listened
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt points to the agency’s recent MACRA final rule as an example of how it’s listening to healthcare stakeholders. His comments were made in a recent blog. The final rule for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of of 2015 (MACRA), released Oct. 14, […]
AAPC Blog
Finalized MACRA Rules for 2017 Contain Some Good News for Radiologists
Earlier this year CMS published its proposed regulations that would implement the MACRA law to revamp the Medicare physician payment system. On October 14th, after consideration of over 4,000 comments about the proposed rules, CMS published the final rule that will govern the initial measurement period that begins January 1, 2017 for payment adjustments in 2019.
ICD-10 Leniency Ends While MACRA Advances
ICD-10 presents a double-punch of changes while reporting standards are tightened. Entering its second year, it includes thousands of new codes implemented October 1, 2016. For example, the new ICD-10-CM diagnosis code set has: 1943 new codes, 422 revised codes, and 305 deleted codes. ICD-10-PCS, the Procedural Coding System used by hospitals and facilities is […]
AAPC Blog
Talk MACRA with New, Old Acronyms
Want to sound smart? Learn the new MACRA acronyms. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) brand new MACRA final rule acknowledges the dizzying number of acronyms included. Some have been developed just for the new system, while some old ones have been altered to meet the needs of the system. Here is list […]
AAPC Blog
CMS Launches Initiative to Reduce MACRA Administrative Demands
On Oct. 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its effort to relieve some of the administrative burdens of Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) on physicians. While implementing new healthcare delivery system reforms stemmed from the Affordable Care Act and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), CMS wants clinicians […]
AAPC Blog
MACRA Requires CMS (and You) to Replace SSN with MBI
By now, you probably know MACRA is an acronym for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 — legislation that brought about physician payment reform and inspired the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Quality Payment Program. And most Americans know that SSN is an abbreviation for Social Security Number — that […]
AAPC Blog
Providers Can Pick Pace of MACRA Adoption, Slavitt Says
Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has previewed four options for providers’ adoption of MACRA beginning January 1, 2017, quashing hopes for postponement. In The CMS Blog, Slavitt acknowledged concern about the imminent implementation, saying, “We received feedback on our April proposal for implementing the Quality Payment Program, both in […]
AAPC Blog
CMS Announces a Revision to Its Proposed MACRA Rules
Under regulations proposed earlier this year, physicians will face up to a 4% fee schedule reduction in 2019 for failure to meet the reporting requirements of the new Quality Payment Program in 2017. Now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that it is going to revise those proposed regulations to make it easier to avoid the negative adjustment and perhaps even earn a slight positive adjustment in 2019. The final rules will be published around November 1, 2016 and will take effect on January 1, 2017.
Infographic: Preparing for MACRA
What does MACRA mean for physician practices? On May 9, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to put in place key parts of MACRA. CMS proposes to make these changes through a single framework called the Quality Payment Program. This infographic will inform you of what we know, […]
AAPC Blog