Medicare’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Final Rule increased the threshold for participation. With this increase, a significant number of providers fall into the exempt category and they are now breathing a sigh of relief. However, there’s one hidden tidbit which you may have missed - the potential damage to your reputation and practice if you DO NOT participate. As incredulous as this may sound, it’s a possibility to consider as your scores will be published on the Physician Compare website for all the world to see. Those scores may also be used for other third-party physician rating websites. One study found that 65% of people are aware of these rating sites and many use them regularly. Providers with high scores have an advantage over their competitors. Damage to online reputations could take years to undo.

The Workers’ Compensation Board has finalized the new Schedule Loss of Use Impairment Guidelines after consideration of much input from a variety of stake holders, including health care professionals.

As we at ChiroCode worked to find an example of the perfect daily treatment visit note, we came across many authoritative sources. For your convenience, we have included them here. The four sources here include Medicare, a chiropractic network, one state board's rules, and one insurance company's requirements. At first glance they may appear to be very different, but, there are many similarities. For the 2018 ChiroCode DeskBook, we considered all these sources and created a SOAP note format that we believe captures all of these requirements so that you can use the same layout for all payers and circumstances. You can read about it in Chapter 4.3 in the 2018 ChiroCode DeskBook.

By now most, if not all, healthcare providers will have received notice from the New York State Workers' Compensation Board advising providers of their responsibility to register with the WCB and update their office address and contact information. Authorized providers are asked to register with the Board and update their office address(es) and contact information by December 29, 2017. This registration process will be an ongoing initiative every two to three years.

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) 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.

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.

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.