April 3, 2020

Advocate Masthead

Breaking News

ACP Focuses on Help for Practices: New Guidance From Medicare & Requests for Insurers to do More During COVID-19 Pandemic

Asks that insurers waive prior authorizations for hospital transfers, pay for telephone-only E/M services at the same level as in-person visits.


ACP to Congress: More Needs to Be Done to Support Physicians and Their Practices During COVID-19 Pandemic

Also calls for further action to protect non-American international medical graduates.


ACP Regulatory News

ACP: Federal Health IT Regulations a Step in the Right Direction

ONC and CMS regulations aim to improve patient access and interoperability, but more needed to protect patient privacy and reduce administrative burden.


Quick Hits

Updated Practice Management Resources for COVID-19

An expanded toolkit is now available on the Practice Resources section of the ACP website to help practices now and in the coming weeks make adjustments due to COVID-19, including options to help sustain their bottom line and continue to see patients. The resources include information on telehealth coding and billing, payer policies, and practice financial support and management issues. The section will continue to be updated as more information becomes available. For more information see COVID-19 Practice Management Resources.


Extension to submit 2019 MIPS performance data

Physicians now have until April 30 to submit 2019 MIPS performance data. Clinicians who do not submit any MIPS data by this date will automatically qualify for the automatic extreme and uncontrollable circumstances policy- they do not need to take any further action and will receive a neutral payment adjustment for the 2021 MIPS payment year. To submit data or check whether data was already received on your behalf, access your QPP account.

If data was already submitted for two or more performance categories- you may apply for category reweighting due to COVID-19-related hardships only. This will supersede any data that has been submitted. Hardship exception applications are also due April 30.

For more information, access this CMS fact sheet.


Top

ACP Advocate is copyrighted ©2020 by the American College of Physicians.