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General News Articles
Senate Fails to Pass Medicare Physician Payment BillThe Senate failed to pass the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008" (H.R. 6331). The final vote was 58-40 with only 9 Republicans (Collins, Coleman, Dole, Murkowski, Roberts, Smith, Snowe, Stevens, and Voinovich) voting yes. The Senate vote came two days after the House&n...
House Passes Physician Payment BillPhysicians and Patients Now Look to Senate for Action!
Shortly after noon today, June 24, the House of Representatives approved the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008" (H.R. 6331).
H.R. 6331 prevents implementation of the scheduled 10.6 percent cut sche...
Update from AOA on the Issue of Medicare Physician PaymentsThere have been several developments on the issue of Medicare physician payments over the past 7-days. The following is a summary of legislative activity that has taken place since June 12.
Thursday, June 12
United States Senate failed to invoke cloture on a motion to p...
Senate Fails To Pass Medicare BillThe U.S. Senate failed to pass a cloture vote on Thursday when it could not obtain the 60 votes needed to allow debate to begin and a vote to occur on the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Physicians Act of 2008” (S. 3101) sponsored by Senat...
HELP PREVENT MEDICARE CUTSThis week the U.S. Senate likely will consider legislation that will prevent implementation of a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare physician payments scheduled to take effect in 22 days. Without immediate Congressional act...
IOWA TO HAVE NEW MEDICARE CONTRACTOROn September 5, 2007, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it had awarded the contract for the Jurisdiction 5 (J5) A/B Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) to Wisconsin Physicians Service Health Insurance Corporation (WPS...
Congress Delays Implementation of Tamper-Resistant Rx PadsThe U.S. House and Senate just passed legislation (HR 3668) that will delay implementation of the October 1 requirement that all Medicaid prescriptions be written on tamper-resistant prescription pads. With the President's signature, the deadline will be extended by si...
BOARD OF MEDICINE PROPOSES RULE CHANGEThe Iowa Board of Medicine (IBM) is proposing changes to rules governing prescribing or administering controlled substances for the treatment of chronic nonmalignant pain to include standards for the assessment and treatment of acute pain. The Board would like to revise and expand its curre...
Medicaid Provider AgreementIn the May 2007 IOMA Newsletter, we reported that all physicians participating in Medicaid received a revised provider agreement from the Iowa Medicaid Enterprise with instructions to sign and return it by May 23rd. IOMA sent a letter expressing our concerns to the IME with the language in ...
Health Policy Fellowship Applications Available for the Class of 2007-2008Founded in 1994, the Health Policy Fellowship is a leadership training program designed for practicing or teaching osteopathic physicians preparing for leadership roles in the profession and positions of influence in health policy and individuals with a professional connection to the osteopathic ...
Postponed Deadline for the CMS 1500 Claim FormThe Iowa Medicaid Enterprise is currently accepting the revised version of Forms CMS-1500 to accommodate the reporting of the National Provider Identifier (NPI). The current version will continue to be accepted until April 30, 2007. After April 30, 2007, only the revised vers...
CMS To Hold Conference Call on PQRI On Tuesday, 3/27/07, from 3:00pm to 5:00pm EST, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold its first provider conference call on the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). During the call CMS will present an overview of PQRI, and specifics on reporting, measures and...
PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and private health insurance plans recommend and employ internal methods of measuring physician's care, physicians need to prepare for pay-for-performance programs.
The AOA's Clinical Assessment Program (CAP) for Physicians is ...
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