About this newsletter
The ACP Advocate is an e-newsletter, edited by the College's Washington, DC governmental affairs division, created to provide you, our members, with succinct news about public policy issues affecting internal medicine and patient care. To learn more about ACP's Advocacy and to access the ACP Advocate archives, go to www.acponline.org/advocacy. |
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Welcome to The ACP Advocate
Our first story this week is all about a problem that you may have been experiencing in your practices. Due to the changeover to Version 5010 standards for electronic billing, many practices have been having their Medicare claims rejected. More details are in the story, but we believe that as clearinghouses and billing practices adjust to the new standards that the situation will resolve itself shortly. If you are still experiencing problems we encourage you to report any issues. To the right of this letter you’ll find a link with instructions for how to submit complaints.
Our next story this issue brings you up-to-date on the latest round of potential Medicare payment cuts due to the SGR. While the law ensures that a 27.4% cut that had been scheduled for March 1 will not go into effect, Congress once again failed to enact a permanent solution to the SGR. We will be back in the same position again at the end of the year. We will continue to hammer in the message to Congress that these short-term fixes are no solution, and that continually fighting this battle distracts us from being able to truly and effectively address the many important issues confronting our health care system.
Finally, our last story this week is all about changes being made to the Relative Value System (RVS) Update Committee (RUC). For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the RUC is a panel of physicians that advises Medicare about setting relative values for different patient services, these relative values are then used to calculate payments for CPT codes. Among the changes, which ACP has been advocating for, are an increase in representation for primary care physicians and support for care coordination services.
For more coverage of what's happening in Washington, take a look at my award-winning blog, The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty. You can also follow me on Twitter @BobDohertyACP.
And, as always, please send your feedback and suggestions on this newsletter to: TheACPAdvocate@acponline.org.
Yours truly,
Bob Doherty
Senior Vice President
Governmental Affairs and Public Policy
American College of Physicians
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In focus
How to Submit Complaints about Medicare Claims Rejections
If you have been experiencing problems with Medicare claims rejections that you believe may be due to the conversion to the Version 5010 standards for electronic billing, we encourage you to submit a report using the AMA complaint form. In addition, practices experiencing problems should be in touch with their billing services or clearinghouses to attempt to resolve the problem. |
AIMn Now on Twitter
Get the latest information about the College’s advocacy efforts and the Advocates for Internal Medicine network (AIMn) through a new Twitter feed, Advocates for IM. There you will find the latest information about the activities of the College’s government affairs office and the hot topics in Washington. |
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