House Committee Unveils Framework to Replace the SGR
Last week, the talk of the town (amongst healthcare stakeholders) was about the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s draft legislative proposal for repealing Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. While this skeleton discussion draft bill is very preliminary, it provides a legislative outline for replacing the current Medicare payment system with an “improved fee for […]
Efforts to Fix the SGR Continue
Year after year, because of Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, physicians face significant cuts in Medicare reimbursement. And time and time again, Congress intervenes with a short term “fix” to prevent these steep cuts. With luck (and a favorable cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office), perhaps the time has finally come — […]
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul is Not the Solution
Guest Post from Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, FAANS, FACS, FAHA Director, Institute of the Neurosciences Distinguished Professor& Chair, Department of Neurosurgery Professor, Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics The Pennsylvania State University Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Since posting a previous blog entitled, “The Primary Care Shibboleth: Debunking the Myth,” I have received a good […]
AANS Spotlight – AANS Neurosurgeon Highlights Personal Stories of Humanitarian Neurosurgery
The AANS Neurosurgeon is official socioeconomic publication of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) which features information and analysis for contemporary neurosurgical practice. It focuses on issues related to legislation, workforce and practice management as they affect the specialty of neurosurgery. For today’s post we wanted to bring your attention to the newly released issue. Humanitarian […]
AANS Joins ‘Partners for Healthy Dialogues’ Campaign
When it comes to our health, appropriate collaboration between physicians and biopharmaceutical and medical device professionals is essential to improving the care that patients receive. It is for this very reason that the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) has joined the ‘Partners for Healthy Dialogues’ campaign because we believe there is great value when […]
Neurosurgeons Warn IOM Committee about Looming Physician Shortages
Ralph G. Dacey, Jr., MD, President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons, testified today on behalf organized neurosurgery at an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee hearing concerning the need to ensure an adequate neurosurgical workforce for the 21st Century. This hearing is one in a series that an IOM consensus committee is holding to evaluate the […]
HHS Office of Inspector General Issues Opinion Regarding On-Call Payments to Physicians
In recent years, issues have arisen as to whether hospitals could make payments to physicians for providing on-call coverage for the hospital’s emergency department as such payments might violate the anti-kickback statute. Well, it seems the ambiguity surrounding this idea has recently been cleared up by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of […]
Specialty Physicians Raise Concerns Over Value Based Payment Modifier
Last week, The Alliance of Specialty Medicine (a coalition of 13 physician specialty societies) issued a statement on provisions specific to the Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBPM) as described in the recently released Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule. While the Alliance recognized that implementation of the VBPM is […]