New ICD-10 codes effective now
New ICD-10 codes are here, and the College’s Advocacy Council has the info you need! The 2022 ICD-10 codes became effective October 1, 2021, so all claims with…
Final 2022 Physician Fee Schedule
CMS released the final 2022 Medicare physician fee schedule rule on November 2, 2021. The new rates take effect on January 1, 2022. CMS estimated the policy ch…
The College’s House of Delegates continues its work
The College’s House of Delegates (HOD) has remained active during the 2021 third quarter. Check out our activities for the first and second quarters too.Our fi…
Backlog of Medicare appeals is down 80%
The Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) recently reported that as of June 30, 2021, the backlog of Medicare appeals awaiting hearings before Adminis…
United class action settlement secures ERISA appeal rights
A recent class action settlement with UnitedHealth Group (United) secures rights under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) for out-of-n…
Will drug pricing reform affect your patients or practice?
Democrats in Congress are beginning to piece together their $3.5 trillion domestic reform bill called the Build Back Better (BBB) Act. Individual Congressional…
College advocacy makes a difference
The College’s advocacy work had an impact last week! On Wednesday, the Advocacy Council notified College members after becoming aware of a United HealthCare (U…
Do the surprise billing requirements apply to your practice?
Often, insurers do not cover the full cost of out-of-network services. In these situations, individuals are sometimes billed for the difference between the amo…
De-identify personal patient info
The College’s Advocacy Council encourages members to keep the council abreast of coverage and coding issues they experience with CMS and commercial payers. Whe…
HHS announces new relief funding for physicians
New Relief FundingLast Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it will make $25.5 billion in COVID-19 relief funding available to p…
CMS proposes to rescind ‘most favored nation’ pricing rule
On August 10th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule that would rescind a previously finalized regulation that implem…
FDA Issues Memorandum of Understanding on compounded drugs
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) related to the interstate distribution of compounded drugs. If a sta…
College advocates for asthma APM
The meeting's purpose was to discuss the status of APMs recommended to CMMI by the HHS Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee.
Does OSHA’s emergency temporary standard for COVID-19 apply to your practice?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently established a new emergency temporary standard (ETS) that is currently in effect to protect h…
Supporting virtual patient care
During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), Congress swiftly enacted telehealth service waivers to allow physicians to care for their patients virtually…
Correction: When to count tests for E/M coding based on MDM
There has been a great deal of confusion regarding how to count tests/procedures for purposes of coding office visits based on medical decision making (MDM), a…
More clarification of 2022 proposed fee schedule
New Medicare billing rights for physician assistantsBeginning Jan. 1, 2022, physician assistants (PAs) will be able to bill Medicare independently for their se…
What’s new at the College’s House of Delegates
A key component of the College’s House of Delegates’ strategic plan was to develop a network of allergists throughout the United States. This program is off to…
Patients’ plans don’t cover allergy services? How to help
Recently, a College member reached out to us about a patient’s health care plan that no longer covers allergy related services like skin testing and allergen i…
More E/M coding direction
The 2020 physician fee schedule finalized changes in evaluation and management (E/M) codes that became effective Jan. 1, 2021. It quickly became evident from p…
