AAOS Now, February 2016
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President Obama Signs Meaningful Use Exemption Legislation
On Dec. 28, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act, which creates a blanket hardship exemption from penalties under the Electronic Health Records (EHR) meaningful use program for the 2015 reporting period. The bill, introduced by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), is based on language included in H.R. 3940—the Meaningful Use Hardship Relief Act, sponsored by Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Ga.)—and passed unanimously in both the House and Senate.
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Out-of-Network Providers, In-Network Hospitals
Health plans with high out-of-pocket expenses and narrow insurance networks continue to grow in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) market exchanges. As a result, balance billing for out-of-network providers at in-network hospitals has become a major issue for regulators, the media, and physicians. Insurance regulators, seeking to fix the problem, have created model legislation that will be debated in nearly every state.
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Capitol Hill—A Great Place to Visit
Resurgens Orthopaedics is a single-specialty medical practice in Atlanta with 95 orthopaedic surgeons and physiatrists. As part of our mission, we are heavily involved in political advocacy on both the state and federal levels for the benefit of our patients and physicians. We regularly hold fundraisers for our state and federal leaders when they are in district, visit our state representatives in Atlanta yearly, and, for the past 4 years, have travelled to Washington, D.C.
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BOS Quality and Patient Safety Action Fund Update
The healthcare system continues to evolve quickly. Creating and implementing quality and safety tools can help orthopaedic surgeons provide the kind of care their patients have come to expect. In 2014, the AAOS Quality as Advocacy Project Team outlined the importance of specialty society involvement in the development of quality initiatives.
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Make Advocacy a Part of Your Annual Meeting Experience
Are you interested in advocacy? If not, you should be. Now more than ever, many legislative issues central to orthopaedic practice and the orthopaedic profession as a whole are at stake. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or advocacy novice, plan to take advantage of the following opportunities at the 2016 Annual Meeting in Orlando next month.
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Second Look—Advocacy
CMS has released a draft CMS Quality Measure Development Plan (MDP) for comment. The MDP supports the transition to a new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and alternative payment models (APMs) for providers.