Tackling the Gordian Knot of Quality Measurement
Guest post from Katie O. Orrico, JD Director, Washington Office American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) From time to time on Neurosurgery Blog you will see us cross-posting or linking to pieces from other places when we believe they involve issues that merit highlighting to our readers. Today’s post originally […]
PQRS and Neurosurgery: The Need to Know
Guest post from Anand Veeravagu, MD (left) Chief Neurosurgery Resident Department of Neurosurgery Stanford University Medical Center Former White House Fellow Stanford, CA and John Ratliff, MD, FAANS, FACS (right) Co-Director, Division of Spine and Peripheral Nerve Surgery Department of Neurosurgery Stanford University Medical Center Stanford, CA It is changing, yet again. The 2015 Medicare […]
Draft Framework for Repealing the SGR: The Cure May be Worse than the Disease
On Halloween, the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees released a bipartisan, bicameral draft proposal to repeal and replace Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The proposal would permanently repeal the SGR update mechanism, reform the fee-for-service payment system through greater focus on value over volume, and encourage participation in alternative payment models. […]
Efforts to Repeal the SGR Continue
Over the past few months there has been a lot of activity on the SGR front, and the AANS and CNS have been at the forefront of discussions on the best way to fix Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula. Neurosurgery is urging Congress to incorporate the following elements in any SGR replacement […]
Neurosurgeons Make their Mark at AMA Meeting
The 2012 Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association’s just concluded, and once again, neurosurgery’s small, but mighty, delegation made its mark. In recognition of his longstanding service to his patients and the profession, the AMA honored one of neurosurgery’s own – Dr. Mark J. Kubala – with its Distinguished Service Award. In addition, the […]
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 […]