News

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2017 from all of us at ISASS!   News and noteworthy information for December 2016: MACRA/QPP Survey ISASS Issues Policy Statement on Decompression with Interlaminar Stabilization President-Elect Trump Selects Congressman Price as HHS Secretary Congress Passes 21st Century Cures Act   MACRA/QPP Survey The Medicare Access & CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was bipartisan legislation signed into law in April 2015 to permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), streamline physician quality reporting programs, and provide incentive payments for physician participation in alternative payment models. MACRA sunsets the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Value-Based Payment Modifier, and the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program and establishes an umbrella Quality Payment Program (QPP) […]

News and noteworthy information for November 2016: CMS Releases 2017 Final Physician Fee Schedule CMS Releases 2017 Final Hospital Outpatient and ASC Rule CMS Releases Final MACRA/Quality Payment Program Rule   CMS Releases 2017 Final Physician Fee Schedule On November 2, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that updates payment policies, payment rates and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on or after January 1, 2017. The PFS pays for services furnished by surgeons, physicians, and other practitioners in all sites of service. These services include but are not limited to visits, surgical procedures, diagnostic tests, therapy services, and specified preventive services. As part of the final […]

On October 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule implementing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). MACRA was bipartisan legislation signed into law in April 2015 to permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), streamline physician quality reporting programs, and provide incentive payments for physician participation in alternative payment models. MACRA sunsets the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Value-Based Payment Modifier, and the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program and establishes an umbrella Quality Payment Program with two new pathways for payment: 1. Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and 2. Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs). The new Quality Payment Program dramatically changes the way Medicare reimburses more […]