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| Members only section, meeting discounts, and more... |
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Health policy updates, coding changes, and more... |
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| Latest News & Views |
| 7/16/10 – The Spring 2010 ACRO Bulletin has been posted on the website. |
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| 6/3/2010 – ACRO Alert CMS Asks Physicians to Hold Claims Yet Again. The Continuing Extension Act of 2010, enacted on April 15, 2010, provided another temporary patch to maintain physician payment levels until the end of May. While the House and Senate leaders are working to fix the problematic sustainable growth formula, the Senate left town for the week-long Memorial Day Congressional recess without enacting a fix to this years-long problem. The House did pass a 19 month fix before its holiday recess. Read the entire ACRO Alert. |
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| 6/1/10 – Read about the proposed decision memo issued by CMS on PET for initial treatment of solid tumors and myeloma in the Billing & Coding section of the Economic/Legislative/Regulatory Affairs section of the website. |
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| 5/18/10 – ACRO's Popular Practice Management Guide is being redesigned as an online, members-only benefit. ACRO needs to move our remaining 2008 and 2009 Stock. Quantities are limited so please order your copies as soon as possible. Click here to order now! |
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| 4/19/10 – ACRO Alert: Yet Another Temporary Reprieve from the Looming Payment Reduction. Late last week, President Obama signed HR 4851, the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. Once again, Congress has enacted merely a temporary patch to maintain physician payments at the March 31st level until the end of May. The law is retroactive to April 1, 2010. Click here for more. |
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| 3/10/10 – ACRO ALERT: Once Again, Fee Schedule Politics. Last week, Congress failed to extend the current Medicare physician payment rates. In a standoff similar to last month's stalemate in which a single Senator, using arcane Senate procedural rules brought a halt to the entire process, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) objected to the bill. He noted that the bill should not be considered emergency spending exempt from budgetary offsets. Congress has adjourned for its spring recess and will not reconsider this issue any time before mid-April. Therefore, because of Congressional inaction, the 21% fee schedule reduction is currently scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2010. Click here for more information. |
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| 3/2/10 – ACRO Alert: Congress Pushes SGR deadline to April 1. Late on March 2, the Senate finally passed legislation extending the current Medicare physician payment rates, but only through the end of the month. The House had previously passed similar legislation. As a result, the 21% payment cut that was to occur March 1 has now been postponed until April 1. Discussions are underway to find a longer term solution to the flawed sustainable growth factor calculations. |
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| 3/2/10 – ACRO Alert: Congressional Non-Action on SGR - on Thursday, February 25, 2010 the US House of Representatives passed legislation extending the current Medicare physician payment rates for 30 days. The Senate failed to pass the same legislation and adjourned for the weekend. This means that a 21% physician payment cut became effective on Monday, March 1. Click here to learn more. |
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| 2/10/10 – The Winter 2010 ACRO Bulletin has been posted on the website. |
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| 1/28/10 – ACRO Alert Code 77338 replaces 77334 Multiple Custom Multileaf Device Charges for Medicare IMRT Patients. Effective January 1, 2010, Code 77338 replaces device charge 77334 used for each multileaf pattern for Medicare patients receiving IMRT. This code is used one time per IMRT plan (77301) and replaces multiple charges for multileaf patterns. Private insurers may not yet have followed suit. Unfortunately, the reimbursement for this code is below what would be reimbursed under the prior system. Click here to read the entire ACRO alert.
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| 1/11/10 – ACRO Alert: Payments for Consultations Eliminated as of January 1, Decline in Reimbursement to Result. CMS has eliminated inpatient and outpatient consultation code reimbursement for medical specialists, including radiation oncologists (codes 99241-99245 and 99251-99255). Instead, radiation oncologists can bill a new patient visit for Medicare patients. The reduction in reimbursement for us is substantial. Click here to learn more.
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