ACC
Submits Comments on the Proposed Fee Schedule The
ACC on Friday submitted comments on the proposed 2010 Physician
Fee Schedule to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS). In its comments, the ACC decries the use of the American
Medical Association’s (AMA) Physician Practice Information
Survey to calculate practice expense relative value units
(RVU). The AMA data have not been reviewed for precision or
accuracy, and the ACC is strongly urging CMS and Congress
not to finalize the proposal without further examination.
The comments also articulate ACC’s opposition to a proposal
to adopt a 90 percent utilization rate for equipment with
an acquisition cost greater than $1 million, and raise ACC’s
concerns about implementation of a new malpractice RVU methodology.
However, the rule includes the creation of ACC-recommended
cardiology measures and measures groups for the Physician
Quality Reporting Initiative, which the ACC in its comments
supports. The full comments are available online.
CMS
Releases ICD-10 Fact Sheet The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issues
a fact sheet to clarify differences between the current International
Classification of Diseases-9 (ICD) and the ICD-10 system that
must be implemented by Oct. 1, 2013. The fact
sheet is available online (.pdf). While implementation
is still four years away, the ACC encourages practices to
take steps to begin to prepare for the transition. Practices
should inquire with their vendors about ICD-10 compliance
so that they can make budget plans for the coming years. Physicians
also should begin familiarizing themselves with the codes.
A preliminary
version is online, although this version is likely to
change substantially before it is implemented in 2013. For
more information, visit the ICD-10
section of the Centers’ for Medicare and Medicaid
Services’ Web site.
QUALITY
New
on The Lewin Report: Visioning Value ACC
CEO Jack Lewin, M.D., reports
from the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) Congress
2009 about discussions with the American Heart Association
(AHA) on their vision for the future of U.S. health care on
ACC’s blog, The Lewin Report. Lewin writes
that the discussion was intended to “help cardiologists
and CV professionals understand better the differences and
areas of collaboration between AHA and ACC” and articulate
the view that the “future of health care should be rewarding
for continuous outcomes improvement and providing patient-centered
care.” Lewin’s post is part of a series
of live posts from ESC’s meeting.
