For Physicians
AMA works with FDA, others to address drug shortages
Shortages of critically needed drugs hit a record high last year, nearly tripling since 2005, according to the White House.
The latest issue of the AMA's Health System Reform Insight describes the impact of this public health emergency and explains plans by the U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA), the U.S. Department of Justice and others to ensure that patients and their physicians have access to the medications they need.
The AMA supports these efforts and continues to urge Congress to pass legislation that would require advance notification of anticipated drug shortages and strategies to prevent shortages from occurring.
Receive the ePrescribing penalty in error? Call CMS
Have your Medicare payments been reduced by the ePrescribing penalty? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is willing to reconsider the cases of physicians who believe they have been penalized in error.
Having heard from many physicians who may have received the 1 percent penalty deduction in error, the AMA secured CMS's commitment to reconsider the cases of physicians who believe they fulfilled the 2011 Medicare ePrescribing program requirements or applied for a hardship exemption.
Some common scenarios that may allow you to avoid the penalty include:
- You ePrescribed in 2011, but the G8553 code was removed from the claims you submitted to Medicare (last week's edition of AMA Wire listed an incorrect code for this). For example, your billing vendor or clearinghouse mistakenly removed the code. You must have documentation of your ePrescribing activity.
- You reported the wrong G-code on your claims. (For instance, you used a 2009 ePrescribing code instead of the 2011 code.) You must have documentation of your ePrescribing activity.
- Your hardship exemption request was denied because you included your group National Provider Identifier (NPI) rather than your individual NPI.
- You filed a hardship exemption request but did not receive a response from CMS.
Other hardships may qualify you to receive an exemption to the penalty. Call CMS's Quality Net Help Desk at (866) 288-8912 or send an email to present your case.
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