E-Prescribing deadline is June 30!

CMS has developed a support page to help providers with Medicare e-prescribing payment adjustment hardship exemption requests. Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule payment adjustments are underway for those eligible professionals who did not initiate e-prescribing in 2011. Penalties of one percent kicked-in Jan.1 and will increase to two percent by the end of 2014 for providers who fail to comply. However, if you did not e-prescribe in 2011 and qualify for a hardship exemption, you can avoid the 2013 payment adjustment by meeting a set of reporting requirements by June 30. Visit the Health IT Issue Center on CardioSource.org for additional information. Also be sure to check the ACC in Touch Blog every Thursday throughout the month of May for tips "from the field" and expert advice on how to avoid health IT-related penalties and benefit from both the e-prescribing and electronic health record incentive programs.

ICD-10 Deadline Fast Approaching

The deadline for upgrading to Version 5010 is June 30 and CMS is urging all HIPPA covered entities to complete the transition as soon as possible to avoid any issues that may arise with claims processing or payment. If you are still working to implement Version 5010, this CMS fact sheet is helpful for troubleshooting common difficulties. For additional information on the upgrade, visit CardioSource.org/ICD10.

Hospital payment rates likely to increase

Under the recently released 2013 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule, which covers payment and quality issues for services provided to patients admitted into the hospital, payment rates to hospitals will increase by 2.3 percent. The rule states that the introduction of surgical site infections following cardiac implantable device procedures will be classified as a "hospital-acquired condition" and the hospital will not be eligible for higher payments resulting from the complication in conditions. As part of the Affordable Care Act, the rule establishes penalties for hospitals with high readmission rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and pneumonia. A performance measure for statins prescribed at discharge has also been added as part of the hospital value based payment program that adjusts payment based on the quality of care provided in the hospital setting. Stay tuned for ACC's comments on the proposal after additional analysis is completed.

Strong Chapters Equal Strong ACC

While the American College of Cardiology (ACC) works hard and effectively to provide education, quality initiatives and advocacy for all its members, to paraphrase a famous line from former Speaker of the House “Tip” O’Neill Jr. — “All health care is local.”

The Tennessee Chapter, along with the ACC’s other 48 Chapters, is a critical link to other cardiovascular specialists in Tennessee. We provide critical local education, quality and advocacy opportunities and plays a key role when it comes to networking, leadership building and mentoring.

Given the invaluable roles all Chapters play, the ACC Board of Trustees recently approved the implementation of mandatory Chapter dues for active physician members. The goal is to provide Chapters with the resources necessary to develop innovative education and advocacy programs and enhance the benefits of Chapter membership.

One of the major challenges for the Tennessee Chapter today is to remain fiscally viable despite a political and economic climate that is making health care funding increasingly difficult to secure and/or narrowly limited in scope. Other similarly situated medical associations, such as the American College of Physicians, implemented mandatory dues and have seen an increase in Chapter membership and a greater sense of involvement from their members as a result. Enabling a baseline membership experience is extremely important to energizing grassroots Chapter work. More >>>