Reimbursement and Practice Management
On April 14, 2015, Congress repealed the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) permanently eliminates SGR and provides positive annual payment updates lasting through 2019. Since MACRA significantly changes the way Medicare pays physicians, we have developed a MACRA Resource Page to help educate neurosurgeons about this topic. In addition to our efforts on MACRA, the Coding and Reimbursement Committee is actively involved in bringing or reviewing new or revised CPT codes, is a strong advocate for appropriate valuation of neurosurgical services and neurosurgery’s Rapid Response Team works tirelessly to ensure that third party payors cover necessary neurosurgical services.
Key Resources
Letters
Dear Acting Administrator Slavitt: The undersigned organizations are writing to you concerning the agency’s implementation plansfor moving to ICD-10, a code set named under the Health Insurance Portability andAccountability Act […]
Letters
Published: February 24, 2015
Joseph Cheng, MDHenry Woo, MDCongress of Neurological Surgeons / American Association of Neurological Surgeons725 15th Street, NW, Suite 500Washington, DC 20005 Dear Drs. Cheng and Woo: I thank you for […]
Article
Published: February 12, 2015
GLOBAL SURGICAL CODES Legislative Request Regarding Transition of 10- and 90-day Global Codes Request: Congress should rescind the policy in the 2015 Final Medicare Physician Fee ScheduleRule to transition 10– […]
Article
Published: January 1, 2015
Background On Friday, December 5, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule onMedicare provider enrollment requirements. The provisions of the final rule, Requirements for […]
Letters
Published: December 2, 2014
Dear Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Speaker Boehner, and Leader Pelosi: The undersigned organizations strongly urge Congress to rescind the policy in the 2015 FinalMedicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule to transition […]
Letters
Published: November 20, 2014
Dear Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader Reid, Minority LeaderMcConnell and Minority Leader Pelosi: We write to you today urging you to consider and pass bipartisan-bicameral legislation to repealthe […]
Letters
Published: September 26, 2014
Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid and Leader McConnell: On behalf of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (the Alliance), a coalition of medical specialty societiesrepresenting more than 100,000 physicians […]
Letters
Published: September 18, 2014
Dear Administrator Tavenner, We are writing to express our concern regarding the provision contained in Centers for Medicareand Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule for calendar year(CY) […]
Letters
Published: September 2, 2014
Re: CMS-1613-P Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Hospital Outpatient ProspectivePayment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality ReportingPrograms Proposed Rule Dear Ms. Tavenner: On behalf of 4,000 practicing neurosurgeons in […]
Letters
Published: September 1, 2014
Re: Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician FeeSchedule, Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule & Other Revisions to Part B for CY2015; CMS-1612-P Dear Ms. Tavenner: On behalf of […]
Letters
Published: August 7, 2014
RE: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Transpsoas Approaches Medical Policy Dear Dr Simmer: On behalf of the members of the Council of Surgical Spine Societies (COSSS), we wish to […]
Letters
Re: Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute CareHospitals and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System andProposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Rates; Quality Reporting Requirements for SpecificProviders Dear […]
Letters
Re: LCD DL35236- Draft LCD for Stereotactic Radiation Therapy: StereotacticRadiosurgery (SRS) and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) Dear Dr. Hecker: The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of […]
Letters
RE: Non-Covered Services for Cervical Disc Arthroplasty Dr. Drs. Hecker and Lurvey, The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons(CNS) appreciate the opportunity to comment upon […]
Letters
Re: AANS/CNS Comments on Washington State HTA Re-review of Lumbar SpinalFusion Dear Mr. Morse: On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the Congress of NeurologicalSurgeons (CNS), and […]
Letters
Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid and Leader McConnell: On behalf of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (the Alliance), a coalition of medical specialtysocieties representing more than 100,000 physicians […]
Letters
Published: March 26, 2014
Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid and Leader McConnell: On behalf of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (the Alliance), a coalition of medical specialtysocieties representing more than 100,000 physicians […]
Agenda
Published: March 26, 2014
REFORMING THE REFORM ABOLISH THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD (IPAB)Established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the IPAB is a 15-member government board whosemembers are appointed by […]
Letters
Published: February 18, 2014
Subject: SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act Dear Senators Wyden and Hatch and Representatives Camp, Levin, Upton, Waxman and Burgess: On behalf of the American Association of Neurological […]
Article
Published: February 14, 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5Section I: Basic Operating Tenets of Provider Public Reporting …………………………………………………………6Section II: General Issues in Reporting …………………………………………………………………………………….11Section III: Audience-Dependent Issues…………………………………………………………………………………….15Physician……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15Patient ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18Payer/Purchaser ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..20References ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………23Appendix A: Public […]
Letters
Published: January 21, 2014
Dear Leader Reid, Leader McConnell, Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, LeaderPelosi, and Whip Hoyer: On behalf of the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (the Alliance), a coalition of medicalspecialty societies representing more […]
Letters
Published: February 13, 2013
The Honorable Chiquita Brooks-LaSure AdministratorCenters for Medicare and Medicaid ServicesDepartment of Health and Human Services7500 Security BoulevardBaltimore, MD 21244-1850 Via Electronic Delivery Re: Step Therapy for Part B Drugs in […]
Letters
Published: December 31, 2012
Re: CMS-1590-FC Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the PhysicianFee Schedule, DME Face to Face Encounters, Elimination of the Requirement forTermination of Non-Random Prepayment Complex Medical Review and Other […]
Letters
Published: December 21, 2012
Dear Speaker Boehner and Representative Pelosi: The undersigned medical organizations, together representing the vast majority ofpracticing physicians and medical students in the United States, strongly urge Congressto develop and pass […]
Letters
Published: December 20, 2012
Dear Acting Administrator Tavenner: The undersigned organizations appreciate the Obama administration’s decision to delay theimplementation of ICD-10 by one year to October 1, 2014. As you are aware, the AmericanMedical […]
