Survey Says: Your ACC and the Heart Rhythm Society will be conducting a survey to assess the relative work value for a series of pacemaker and ICD services in the coming weeks. This survey, part of the process of the development of resource-based relative value scale, asks physicians to compare these services to other commonly provided services. Please be on the lookout for this survey. If you receive one, it is very important that you fill it out. If you have any questions, please contact Brian Whitman on ACC's Regulatory Affairs team at
bwhitman@acc.org.
Are we ready for Stage 2 of Meaningful Use? This was one of the questions posed by your ACC in formal comments sent to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. The comments express the College's concern that discussions regarding Stage 2 of Meaningful Use are already well underway, despite Stage 1 having only launched in January. "The federal government and the HIT Policy Committee have no data to suggest that physician practices have been able to successfully complete what has been asked of them for Stage 1; how is it then reasonable to be this far along in the discussions for Stage 2?" The comments urge the government not to get ahead of technology and vendor ability to develop cost-effective solutions. More importantly, they also urge implementation not to get ahead of physician abilities to "purchase and implement the new solutions while maintaining high-quality patient care."
Read the specific recommendations.
Good news on the imaging accreditation front! Effective February 14, National Imaging Associates, Inc. (NIA), a radiology benefit manager for numerous health insurers, began accepting practices with the
Intersocietal Accreditation Commission's (IAC) ICACTL and ICAMRL Accreditation into the NIA Provider Privileging Program. The IAC's founding organizations, which include your ACC, stressed the importance of including IAC as practices prepare and make decisions for the beginning of the
Medicare accreditation requirement for advanced diagnostic imaging tests. Previously, NIA only accepted the American College of Radiology accreditation body.
Save these dates: - Your ACC and the Heart Rhythm Society are hosting a free webinar on Monday, March from 6 - 7:15 p.m. (ET) that addresses "The Focused Update on the Management of Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: Who Should Get What, When?" Register at http://www.HRSonline.org/Education.
- The ACC PINNACLE Network is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday, March 15 at 1 p.m. (ET) that will focus on "Getting the Most Out of Medicare Incentive Programs" (e-Prescribing, EHR Incentive Program and the Physician Quality Reporting System). Register now.