Thursday, April 10, 2014

Points of Interest - 04/10/2014(a)




Points of Interest

04/10/2014 (a)

Ahead of the ICD-10 Transition

With 2015 just around the corner, practices should begin making their ICD-10 transition strategy  a top priority. Because while the new coding set is expected to produce higher reimbursements down the line, its sheer complexity can be unbelievably disruptive for practices. AccuChecker is the tool for this transition. For details call 305-227-2383  or 1-877-938-9311 .

 
2014 MU incentive program off to a relatively slow start

As of the end of February, there were 458,137 total participants – up from 448,750 in January – from all versions of the EHR incentive program, according to Elizabeth Myers, head of policy and outreach at the Office of eHealth Standards and Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Tuesday HIT Policy Committee meeting.

Since February, 9387 eligible providers have joined the meaningful use incentive program. That total includes 5,716 Medicare providers, 3,662 Medicaid providers and 9 hospitals

Announcement from the State of Georgia

The State Board of Workers’ Compensation will adopt ICD-10-CM/PCS for diagnosis and procedure coding to coincide with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) implementation date. Because of this transition, there have been a number of significant changes to the fee schedule. Therefore, this year’s Georgia Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedule’s effective date will be May 1, 2014. Please disregard the effective date of April 1, 2014 printed on the binder cover of the fee schedule.

Patient-Centered Medical Home

The patient-centered medical home is a way of organizing primary care that emphasizes care coordination and communication to transform primary care into "what patients want it to be." Medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and can improve patients’ and providers’ experience of care.

 Drop in substance abuse treatment, especially in Medicare

The proportion of people diagnosed as chemically dependent who proceed to recommended, timely treatment has declined dramatically over several years. The drop has been largest in Medicare plans, suggesting that America’s fast-growing senior population is more likely not to get needed treatment for addiction..

 HEDIS

HEDIS includes performance measures related to dozens of important health care issues. Selected measures include, but are not limited to:

§  Advising smokers to quit

§  Antidepressant medication management

§  Breast cancer screening

§  Cervical cancer screening

§  Children and adolescent access to primary care physician

§  Children and adolescent immunization status

§  Comprehensive diabetes care

§  Controlling high blood pressure

§  Prenatal and postpartum care

Overuse use of antibiotics still a problem

In findings that echo and corroborate recent CDC warnings about overuse of antibiotics leading to antibiotic resistance, we see no progress on overuse of antibiotics—a serious public health threat.


More Medicaid enrollees like their care

Medicaid enrollment is growing and will continue to growth with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Fortunately, patients are increasingly happy with their doctors – both primary care and specialists – in their Medicaid plans

  
Like US on Facebook:          https://www.facebook.com/Accuchecker
 

Follow US on Twitter:          https://twitter.com/HPPAccuchecker

No comments:

Post a Comment