RELATED LINKS

NASPER

Carrier Advisory Committee

The 'unsustainable' Sustainable Growth Rate formula

Medical malpractice reform

ASC and HOPD Medicare reimbursement

Capwiz

ASC Alert Information

United States House of Representatives

United States Senate

Act Today - CMS Proposes IPM Privileges for CRNAs

While the CMS comment period has passed, it is not too late to voice your opinion to Congress on the proposed rule establishing a national policy for CRNA pain management services. Your voice is NEEDED to protect patient safety. This final rule as it is written, would allow CRNAs to perform IPM techniques. This has sweeping ramifications, from compromised patient safety to an increase in fraud and abuse. Contact Congress today and let them know that this proposed rule is unacceptable and dangerous.

Capwiz

In addition to your official comment to CMS, we encourage you to also send letters to Congress, HHS, and CMS via the Capwiz link below. Sample text is provided but you are encouraged to edit and personalize your letter. http://capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=61589631

It is simple to get your patients involved by customizing the following letter to your state senators and representatives, have your patients sign it before they leave the office, then have your staff enter it in Capwiz for the patient. Sample Patient Letter
 

ASIPP's Letter to CMS

ASIPP's Offical Comment Letter to CMS

Our goal is to send at least 20,000 letters but this cannot happen without your help. One per person is not enough to accomplish this. We must all send daily letters.

We also encourage you to contact your senators and representative by calling them or their staff. If you don't know who they are, you can find your elected officials by clicking on the following link: http://www.asipp.org/Alert.htm

If you feel you do not have time to do this, please remember that CRNAs are making time for it. If Congress hears more noise from their court, you can bet the outcome will not be favorable to us.

Please act immediately on this important issue.

 Change Your Specialty Designation

Use the CMS Form to Change your Specialty Designation to 09 - Interventional Pain Management

We are faced with the need to increase our 09 Interventional Pain Management specialty designation. Currently CMS claims there are too few IPM physicians, which negatively affects our reimbursement. Interventional Pain Physicians can now change their specialty code designation to 09 utilizing the CMS form CMS855I - see page 8, section D.

NEWS AND UPDATES

CBO: Delays in SGR Cuts to Cost $271 Billion

WASHINGTON -- The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released updated figures on the cost of repealing -- or continuing to override -- the cuts doctors are scheduled to receive under Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) reimbursement formula.

The fresh numbers give Washington lawmakers a better idea of the effect of changes they could make later this year to the SGR cuts. Physician reimbursements are scheduled to drop by 27% next year unless Congress acts, the CBO noted in the report. Every year since 2003, Congress has acted to override the SGR cuts by either maintaining or increasing payments when they were scheduled to drop.

The CBO estimates that if cuts are blocked and payments sustained at current rates from now through 2022, it would cost an additional $271 billion from 2013 to 2022. Resetting payments to 2011 levels, only to increase them annually at 2% plus however much the gross domestic product (GDP) grows, would cost an additional $376.6 billion.

MedPage Today

Federal Court Dismisses Stark Law Challenge

Physician-owned hospitals suffered defeat late last week when a federal court dismissed their challenge to a provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that limits the expansion or building of new physician-owned hospitals.

The ACA expanded Stark self-referral laws, which bar Medicare reimbursement to hospitals owned by physicians who "self-refer" patients there, by ending reimbursements for physician-owned hospitals even if they weren't specialty facilities.

Any physician-owned hospital licensed before Dec. 31, 2010, would still be reimbursed under the previous Stark laws, which say physician-owned hospitals are eligible for payments if they are "whole hospitals," or more than a specialty care facility

MedPage Today

ASIPP ADVOCACY EFFORTS

ASIPP-PAC

Through the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians-PAC, the organization is able to offer significant presence and influence in Washington. ASIPP members who wish to contribute may contact ASIPP Meeting Coordinator Paula Reynolds at paula@thepainmd.com or phone 270.554.8373, ext. 149.

CARRIER ADVISORY COMMITTEE

After a four-year effort, ASIPP was successful in March 2005 in getting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to mandate the inclusion of an interventional pain management physician on each state’s Carrier Advisory Committee. See full details, including the representatives in many states and sample letters for those states still needing to nominate representatives.