Stories with related Professional Interests

TMA Moment in Time: SGR Repeal - 04/09/2024

The historic victory has roots in TMA advocacy and may provide a playbook for future Medicare reform.

Medicare Advantage – and Disadvantage: Program Enrollment Grows Amid Physician Concerns - 04/03/2024

Despite its growing popularity among Medicare patients, Medicare Advantage is divisive among physicians.

Middle Ground: Medicare Offers Options Amid Shift to Value-Based Care - 03/05/2024

Physicians are divided on the issue of value-based care, but, with Medicare forging ahead, the Texas Medical Association is focused on monitoring the development of alternative payment models, educating members about their options, and advocating for physician protections.

Medicine’s MIPS Win: 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Stabilizes Program - 03/05/2024

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yielded to the Texas Medical Association’s concerns about its proposal and the impact of constant changes to MIPS on its participants.

How to File a Medicare Extended Repayment Plan - 12/06/2023

  Extended repayment plans (ERPs) are an option for returning overpaid money to Medicare. Ideally, you should request an ERP immediately after receiving the initial demand letter. However, you can request an extended payment plan any time while the overpayment is outstanding. 

The Power of One Voice: Elisabeth Potter, MD's Advocacy Helped Upend CMS' Plan to End Certain Breast Surgery Coverage - 11/01/2023

Elisabeth Potter, MD’s spirited advocacy helped upend CMS’ plan to eliminate coverage for a preferred breast reconstruction surgery.

Heads Ups: New and Notable From Medicare - 08/21/2023

Here are some Medicare updates to keep on your radar for 2017 and into 2019. Most notable: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has made Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) reporting easy for 2017 so you won’t earn a penalty.

Use Modifiers to Override Correct Coding Initiative Edits - 08/21/2023

Correct Coding Initiative Edits Now Free on Internet

TMA Opposes Attempts to Expand Audiologists’ Scope - 07/17/2023

Proposed federal laws that would give audiologists unlimited access to Medicare patients without a physician referral could lead to lasting, and expensive, harm to patients, medicine once again told U.S. Senate and House leadership this week.

Medicare Pays for End-of-Life Consults - 07/17/2023

As of January, Medicare pays physicians for advance care planning as a separate service, a long-sought victory that promotes educating patients and physicians on the issue. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created two new payment codes that cover it as a separate service in physician practices and facilities, including hospitals.

Relief in Site: Physicians Say Setting Should Not Determine Medicare Payments - 06/07/2023

Physicians want to reform a Medicare policy that allows hospital-owned outpatient clinics to charge more than medical practices and ambulatory surgical centers for most medical procedures. This pay discrepancy pressures medical practices to merge in order to protect themselves from hospitals hot to acquire medical practices that, once bought, can collect much higher fees.

Mending Medicare: Federal Spending Law Reduces Physician Pay Cut Amid Reform Push - 04/12/2023

A massive federal spending law took effect in late 2022, delivering a smaller-than-scheduled Medicare physician pay cut in 2023, but the Texas Medical Association and others in organized medicine continue to push for comprehensive reform.

Medicare Advisory Panel Recommends Physician Pay Raise - 02/01/2023

A key congressional advisory panel lent its support to a Medicare physician pay increase for the first time in several years, underscoring the need for comprehensive Medicare physician payment reform.

Medicare Fee Schedule a Mixed Bag for 2023 - 01/26/2023

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently posted the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which takes effect Jan. 1 and brings with it a mixed bag of consequences for physicians.

Medicine Achieves Reduction in Medicare Physician Pay Cut Amid Push for Reform - 01/13/2023

After a concerted advocacy campaign by the Texas Medical Association and others in organized medicine, Congress lessened a Medicare physician pay cut that took effect Jan. 1. Despite this intervention, physicians still face declining Medicare payments in 2023 and in 2024, underscoring the need for comprehensive reform. Meanwhile, TMA experts continue to analyze other potentially positive provisions of the extensive spending law that averted the cuts and its specific implications for Texas.

Medicare ACOs Face Key Changes in Proposed Fee Schedule - 08/10/2022

In an effort to boost participation in accountable care organizations, Medicare has significant changes to its shared savings program on tap in the proposed 2023 physician fee schedule.

Medicare Delays Penalties for Appropriate Use Program - 07/18/2022

After long-standing warnings from the Texas Medical Association and others in medicine about Medicare’s appropriate use criteria (AUC) program, Medicare is delaying the next phase of the program, in which physicians face monetary penalties.

Proposed Medicare Fee Schedule Includes Physician Pay Cut, Expanded Access to Care - 07/15/2022

The recently proposed 2023 Medicare physician fee schedule would deepen physician pay cuts while expanding access to telemedicine, behavioral health care, and cancer screening. If implemented, it also would significantly modify the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

New Unscored MIPS Measure Can Help You Refine Your EHR Use - 07/13/2022

Even though it won’t affect your score for 2022, a new piece of this year’s Merit-Based Incentive-Payment System (MIPS) might be worth undertaking just the same – because it can help practices make sure they’re using their electronic health record (EHR) systems safely.

TMA Calls on Lawmakers to Stop the Latest Medicare Pay Cut - 06/28/2022

Just days remain for Congress to stop yet another pending Medicare physician pay cut, and the Texas Medical Association is again feverishly working the nation’s Capitol.

TMA Fighting to Stop Yet Another Medicare Pay Cut – and Looking for System Overhaul - 06/08/2022

After decades of Medicare physician pay cuts – the latest of which is set to take effect on July 1 – the Texas Medical Association and others in organized medicine have set their sights on comprehensive reform.

Delay Upcoming Medicare Cut, TMA Tells Congress - 04/08/2022

With just days remaining until the latest Medicare physician pay cut takes effect, the Texas Medical Association has been lobbying for an eleventh-hour act of Congress to stop it.

AMA Updates Estimated Medicare Payment Impacts - 04/05/2022

Following medicine’s fervent advocacy in late 2021 that convinced Congress to stop almost all of a nearly 10% Medicare physician pay cut for 2022, the American Medical Association has released an updated analysis on Medicare payments by specialty for this year.

A Long-Overdue Fix: Comprehensive Medicare Reform Could Halt Pay Cuts - 03/31/2022

Physicians say Medicare reform is the only solution to the problem of periodic pay cuts  – and they’re prepared to fight for it.

MIPS Deadlines Approaching for 2021 Data Submission, COVID Exception - 03/28/2022

Clinicians who participated in Medicare’s Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) in 2021 have until this Thursday, March 31, at 7 pm CT to submit and update their data for that performance year. That's also the deadline for MIPS-participating groups, virtual groups, and alternative payment model entities to apply for an extreme and uncontrollable circumstances exception for 2021 because of COVID-19.