News from the House:
The House of Representatives yesterday passed legislation to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Your ACC did not dive into the repeal debate, recognizing it as a partisan process that would not prevail in the Senate. We continue to pursue our health reform principles, a number of which are included in the PPACA, and to push to amend those we do not support. In addition, the College, as always, continues to advocate for important delivery system changes like comprehensive medical liability and payment reforms that are absent in the PPACA. Stay tuned to “The Advocate” or CardioSource.org/Advocacy for updates on this legislation and other health reform implementation policies and provisions. Read the ACC’s comprehensive overview of the law and its impacts on cardiology.
CMS is moving forward with its Physician Compare website.
At the end of 2010, CMS changed its existing online physician directory into a website called Physician Compare. Modeled after CMS' Hospital Compare site, this new site is intended to allow consumers to compare physicians before selecting one. For 2011, this only includes a modest adjustment to the existing site, which indicates whether a physician was a successful participant in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). The ACC has endorsed the concept of an engaged and educated consumer but has expressed strong concern about the site being grossly inaccurate. Your ACC strongly recommends that all physicians review their information on the Physician Compare site for accuracy. In most cases, corrections to the data will require physicians to update their enrollment information through the Provider Enrollment Chain and Ownership (PECOS) system, but in some cases it may be corrected through the feedback tool on the site. Read ACC's recent comments on the Physician Compare website development.
Get up-to-date on 2011 coding changes!
Avoid making costly coding errors with the "2011 CPT Reference Guide for Cardiovascular Coding," co-published by the American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and American Medical Association (AMA). This all-inclusive cardiology coding and reimbursement guide is designed to help cardiovascular professionals more efficiently and accurately report cardiovascular services and procedures. The guide also provides a complete overview of the heart, including cardiovascular basics and common ailments, CPT guidelines, explanations of significant recent code revisions and the general intent and use of diagnostic and therapeutic clinical procedures and services which will help ensure that providers, administrators and allied health professionals code properly. Visit www.cardiosource.org/CPT for more information and to place your order today.
It's not too late to participate in the 2010 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
There is still time to submit data for 2010 PQRI before the Feb. 11 deadline. The ACC PQRIwizard is an easy to use online tool to help physicians and other eligible professionals quickly and easily participate in PQRI. Similar to online tax preparation software, the PQRIwizard helps guide professionals through a few easy steps to rapidly collect, validate, report and submit data to CMS for payment. The 2010 program offers the greatest financial incentive to participants. The ACC's PINNACLE Network is holding a special webinar (that is free for ACC members) to help review the basics of the CMS PQRI incentive program, share some PQRI "lessons from the field" and walk you through how to use the PQRIwizard to submit data for 2010. The webinar will take place on Monday, Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. (ET). Register for the webinar today!