The ACR will add a new professional journal, ACR Open Rheumatology, in January 2019. An open access journal, it will feature the same high-quality, rigorously peer-reviewed articles on original investigations in rheumatology research, as well as commentaries and reviews, as the ACR’s other journals, Arthritis & Rheumatology (A&R) and Arthritis Care & Research (AC&R). Co-Editors-in-Chief…
Donah Zack Crawford, MA, was a research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania, focused on premenstrual syndrome and perimenopause, when her symptoms first started. “Someone suggested I see a rheumatologist,” she says, and not long after, Philadelphia-based physician Bruce Hoffman, MD, diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis. It was the mid-1990s, and treatment options were limited….
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for the Quality Payment Program (QPP) year 3 (CY 2019) on Nov. 1, 2018. Below, we have compiled a list of key changes to ensure MIPS-eligible clinicians are accurately reporting for CY 2019: New MIPS-eligible clinician types: Physical therapist, occupational therapist, qualified speech-language…
It’s time to prepare for 2018 MIPS reporting via the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry, and the ACR is here to help. To ensure you’re ready to submit your data to the CMS, RISE users should take the following steps: Complete the survey to notify the ACR of your intent to report via…
Election Day 2018 has come and gone, and a new class of legislators will be joining the ranks of Congress in January. RheumPAC is the most important tool we have to establish relationships with our new legislators and this year, our ACR volunteer leaders stepped up and matched all donations to RheumPAC leading up to…
Late last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), seeking feedback on a potential drug pricing model called the International Pricing Index (IPI) model. This comment solicitation is in alignment with the administration’s blueprint to lower drug costs and reduce out-of-pocket costs, and is an…
Unfortunately, prior authorization continues to be a burden for providers, practices, and patients. Effective Jan. 1, 2019, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) will retire fax numbers used for medical prior authorization (PA) requests. After this date, UHC will require PA requests to be submitted through their Prior Authorization and Notification tool. Providers who can’t submit requests electronically may…
Maintaining a health revenue cycle in a medical practice comes with myriad moving parts. Numerous external forces, such as economic conditions, government programs (e.g., the Zone Program Integrity Contractor [ZPIC], the Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health [HITECH]) and legislation passed under healthcare reform, mandate healthcare organizations to begin managing internal processes, such as…
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is more prevalent among Hispanic women than white women, according to two recent studies published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.1,2 However, Latinas often lack awareness of lupus, which can contribute to delays in diagnosis and treatment, and lead to worse outcomes. “One of the challenges is reaching out to the Latino community,…
Take the challenge. B or D—If it was not documented, it was not done is the motto of many coders. For those who follow this motto, the answer would be B. But there is another option for the coder and that is to query the physician about whether the injection was done with ultrasound guidance…