CMS has issued the final rule and comment period for the 2018 (year 2) Quality Payment Program.

The Workers’ Compensation Board (Board) has initiated a registration process to update and maintain a current list of medical providers who are authorized to treat injured workers. The goal of this process is to enable an injured worker to easily and accurately identify Board-authorized medical providers.

Removing Social Security numbers strengthens fraud protections for about 58 million Americans

In April 2017, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law the 2017-2018 Executive Budget, which contained several significant pieces of workers’ compensation reform designed to protect workers while also achieving savings for businesses. Included in the reforms was Workers’ Compensation Law (WCL) § 15(3)(x), which requires new Permanency Impairment Guidelines (“Guidelines”) to be adopted by January 1, 2018. The new Guidelines cover determinations of permanency under WCL § 15(3)(a) through (v), which are also known as scheduled loss of use.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. CMS will begin mailing new Medicare cards with a new Medicare number (currently called the Medicare Claim Number on cards) to your patients in April 2018. You may need to change your systems to:

Provider Compliance

Chiropractic Services:
High Improper Payment Rate within Medicare FFS Part B

Medicare is taking steps to remove Social Security numbers from Medicare cards. Through this initiative the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will prevent fraud, fight identity theft and protect essential program funding and the private healthcare and financial information of our Medicare beneficiaries.  

CMS is once again conducting their annual survey of Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) performance and requesting feedback from the provider community we serve through the MAC Satisfaction Indicator (MSI).
 
The MAC Satisfaction Indicator (MSI) is the best way to share your opinions of our service directly with the CMS. This survey should only take 10 minutes of your time and helps us understand how we can better serve you. To take the survey, click on the URL below:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has yet to release critical 2017 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) eligibility information to allow providers to determine if they fall under the low-volume threshold exemption.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on March 28 that the Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN) Form and instructions were approved for renewal. The effective date for use of the updated ABN form is May 27.

Edited: Gerald Stevens DC, MS, MPH

As Governor Cuomo delivered his State of the State addresses, one of the issues again highlighted was workers compensation reform. As you know, this impacts your patients and your practice. The NYSCA, working with the NY Chiropractic Council, has recently met with the WCB to welcome its new Chair and discuss the issues facing the chiropractic patient. NYSCA's WC Committee will continue to address the issues we face.

As some of you are aware, there are some changes coming to the Optum Health / UnitedHealthcare program which may impact your practice. The NYSCA Insurance Committee has responded to dozens of calls to assist our members in understanding these impending changes. A summation of our knowledge to date, as already conveyed to many of our members, has been posted in the members only section of NYSCA.com.  

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) requires CMS to remove Social Security Numbers (SSNs) from all Medicare cards by April 2019. A new randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) will replace the SSN-based Health Insurance Claim Number on new Medicare cards for transactions like billing, eligibility status, and claim status.

What do you need to do to get ready?

There are thousands of code changes going into effect on October 1. Here is a list of the 70 or so that are most relevant to chiropractors. All of this information, and a whole lot more can be found in our brand new 2017 ICD-10 Coding for Chiropractic book. Order your ChiroCode book today and get a free cheat sheet!