Health care practitioners who successfully attested compliance with Medicare standards for the “meaningful use” (MU) of electronic health records (EHR) last year, and thereby qualified for bonuses under the 2011 Medicare Electronic Health Records Incentive program, will have to meet Medicare EHR utilization criteria all year long if they want to qualify for incentives again in 2012, according to the AOA Health Information Technology (HIT) Subcommittee. Read the rest of this entry ?
Archive for the ‘Eye on Washington’ Category
CMS Shared Saving Program launches with 27 ACOs
May 26, 2012A new program that will help physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers work together to improve care for people with Medicare is off to a strong start, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read the rest of this entry ?
AOA immediate past president calls on vision plans to halt anti-optometry lobbying in DC and state capitals, urges ODs not to be bullied
May 25, 2012Joe Ellis, O.D., past president of the AOA and Kentucky Optometric Association, called on vision plan executives to immediately halt their anti-optometry lobbying efforts now under way in Washington, D.C., and state capitals around the country and to work with optometric leaders to lock in the profession’s recent legislative and regulatory victories, including the new designation of pediatric vision care as essential and the Harkin patient access law targeting discriminatory Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans. Read the rest of this entry ?
Munson: advocacy key in rocky economic times
May 25, 2012
AOA Vice President Mitch Munson, O.D., addresses the audience at the Corporate Optometry Reports conference.
Congress rescinding a planned 24 percent Medicare reimbursement cut will bring the average practicing optometrist $9,000 this year – demonstrating that, in uncertain economic times, effective AOA advocacy efforts have become critical to both the short-run stability and long-range growth of the primary eye care market in America, AOA Vice President Mitch Munson, O.D., told last month’s Corporate Optometry Reports (COR) conference at Vision Expo East in New York.
Exemption of contact lenses from a new 2.3 percent federal medical excise tax will help to stabilize the eyewear market in 2013 and later years, Dr. Munson said.
Beginning in 2014, provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act, notably the AOA-backed Harkin provider nondiscrimination amendment, could help open access to optometry for “nearly 100 million people, or one-third of the country,” Dr. Munson said. Read the rest of this entry ?
HHS wants to delay ICD-10 deadline until 2014
May 25, 2012The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is proposing to delay until Oct. 1, 2014, the compliance deadline for the use of International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (ICD-10) diagnosis and procedure codes on insurance claims and other health care-related transactions. Read the rest of this entry ?
ODs net $2 million in Medicare eRx incentives
May 24, 2012The Medicare Electronic-Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program issued bonus payments totaling $2,304,808.70 to optometrists during its second year, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Optometrists who qualified for payments through the program during 2010 received an average of $2,462.40. Read the rest of this entry ?
ODs exempt from eRx penalties
May 24, 2012Optometrists, like many other health care professionals, can earn Medicare payment bonuses for prescribing pharmaceuticals electronically; however they will not be subject to Medicare payment reductions for failure to e-prescribe (eRx), according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read the rest of this entry ?
PQRS incentives to optometrists top $3 million
May 23, 2012The Medicare Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) issued more than $3 million in incentive payments to optometrists during 2010, according to latest in a series of reports on the program from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read the rest of this entry ?
CMS targets medical ID theft
May 23, 2012The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is launching a drive to help keep health care practitioners from becoming victims of identify theft. Read the rest of this entry ?
ODs earn $21 million in Medicare EHR incentives
May 21, 2012Optometrists earned more than $21 million in top-level bonuses during the first year of the Medicare Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program, according to the latest in a series of monthly reports from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Read the rest of this entry ?
