Understanding APMs and MIPS

Craig R. Mahoney, MD; Stephen W. Shick, MD; Alexandra E. Page, MD

The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) not only replaced the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate model, but also offered a high-level description of a number of new initiatives to decrease cost and improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. Almost a year after the passage of MACRA, implementation of the law continues to evolve with release of regulatory specifics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Meaningful Use Update

On Dec. 28, 2015, President Obama signed the Patient Access and Medicare Protection Act into law. The Act was established to address payment adjustments under the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program (meaningful use program) for the 2015 reporting period.

Decline in HACs Associated with Cost Savings and Fewer Deaths

Julie B. Samora, MD, PhD, MPH; David B. Bumpass, MD

All too often, patients enter a hospital with one condition and acquire others during treatment. These hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), as defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), are common and costly medical complications that could reasonably have been prevented through the application of evidence-based guidelines.

Orthopaedic Telemedicine: Will It Catch On?

Nicholas Colyvas, MD; Joey Carbone, BS

Telemedicine has been a part of physician-patient interaction since the 1970s. Over the years, advances in communications technologies have allowed for exponential growth in the number of applications that telemedicine can provide. For example, practices no longer have to rely on the telephone for scheduling patient appointments and making call backs. Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and independent vendors also offer online appointment scheduling.

Arbitration: A Better Way of Settling Medical Disputes

David J. Gandy, MD, JD, FACS, CIME

Although arbitration agreements are widely used in many different contract situations, they are not common in healthcare situations. These agreements help ensure that disputes are managed by an arbitrator, rather than in a courtroom. Physicians may consider using arbitration agreements to address the risk of malpractice lawsuits. Most states have laws governing arbitration agreements between physicians and patients.

Going After Orthopaedic Aftercare

Margaret M. Maley, BSN, MS

The provision of orthopaedic aftercare falls into two categories, which are addressed differently under the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). One category of aftercare uses codes beginning with the letter "Z"; the other category of aftercare uses the 7th character extension.

Edward M. Wojtys, MD, and James A. Ashton-Miller, PhD, Receive Kappa Delta Lanier Award

Terry Stanton

As a former linebacker for the University of Michigan football team, Edward M. Wojtys, MD, was drawn to the challenge of understanding and preventing knee injuries. For work spanning three decades of research into the neuromuscular function of the knee, mechanisms of ACL injury, and in vivo efforts to develop a cell-engineered anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) replacement, Dr. Wojtys and James A. Ashton-Miller, PhD, are the recipients of the 2016 Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award.

Unmasking the "Two Faces" of Osteoprogenitor Cells

Jennie McKee

Drugs currently used to prevent bone loss—such as bisphosphonates and denosumab—are costly and may cause serious complications, raising socioeconomic and clinical questions about their long-term use, according to the Robert E. Carroll and Jane Chace Carroll Laboratories Professor at Columbia University. Through Dr.