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1 Min Read

Avoid 2016 Medicare penalty: Use a registry for quality reporting

Physicians who don’t successfully report for Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) this year will face a 2 percent payment penalty in 2016.

Medicare & Medicaid
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3 Min Read

Now's the time to harness telemedicine, EHRs

The AMA made many exciting strides toward more robust health IT earlier this month at the 2014 AMA Annual Meeting, adopting policies on such timely topics as telemedicine and electronic health record (EHR) usability.

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Leadership
Leadership Viewpoints
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2 Min Read

1 in 3 California hospitalizations stem from diabetes: Study

Patients with diabetes account for one in three hospitalizations in California, according to a new study on diabetes prevalence in the state. The study highlights the impact the disease is having on health care costs.

Chronic Diseases
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2 Min Read

Officials making physicians' health IT concerns a priority

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released its 10-year vision for health IT, setting its sights on one of physicians’ biggest concerns: achieving nationwide interoperability of electronic health records (EHR).

Digital
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2 Min Read

Pew got it wrong on advance care planning

There has been a lot of misinformation about advance care planning over the years. The latest in false reporting on this issue is told by Stateline, a news website run by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In an article that appeared this week about possible federal payment policy for advance care planning,

Medicare & Medicaid
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3 Min Read

Sunshine Act proposal threatens doctors' due process for disputes

A newly proposed dispute resolution process for inaccurate Physician Payments Sunshine Act data would deny physicians their due process rights, the AMA told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in a comment letter last week that calls for fairness and urges the agency to modify the deadline for publication of physicians’ payment data.

Medicare & Medicaid
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3 Min Read

Don't proceed with eRx and PQRS audits, AMA tells CMS

Following a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announcement of a proposal to conduct audits of physicians and other eligible professionals who received incentive payments under the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting System and ePrescribing programs, the AMA called on the agency to abandon its plans because of numerous implementation problems.

Medicare & Medicaid
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2 Min Read

Physicians need cost, outcomes data, not Medicare claims data

It’s been about a month since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its raw physician Medicare claims data, drawing a great deal of attention from the press and leaving physicians to provide context about the data to patients. 

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Leadership
Leadership Viewpoints
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3 Min Read

Improve EHRs before expanding meaningful use, AMA tells ONC

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued a proposed rule containing voluntary certification criteria for EHR systems in 2015 to be used by physicians participating in the meaningful use program. The rule was to give vendors flexibility in upgrading their systems and offer a look at the 2017 edition. The AMA submitted comments on the proposed rule.

Medicare & Medicaid