The Physician Regulatory Issues Team (PRIT) reports CMS's electronic fund transfer (EFT) authorization form (CMS 588) has been updated, again.

Some Medicare providers had encountered a small problem with previous versions of the 588 this year. An applicant had 12 boxes to write down the practice's bank account number, even though some accounts have 13 digits.

The new 588 form (pdf) can now accommodate 13-digit account numbers.  

Your Medicare patients may be getting calls from shameless scammers trying to capitalize on the health reform law's "donut hole" provision. The law requires the government to issue a $250 check to seniors on Medicare that will cover the $250 gap in prescription drug coverage -- commonly referred to as the donut hole. TIP: Tell your patients to watch out for calls from scammers who may be posing as HHS or CMS officials. The scammers are allegedly calling seniors and asking them for sensitive information such as their Social Security or Medicare numbers, under the pretext of needing these details in order to issue the $250 checks. Of course, no such details are needed, as HHS is (read more) ...

Cigna Government Services announces it's been awarded the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) contract for processing and paying physician claims in jurisdiction 15, consisting of the state of Ohio and the commonwealth of Kentucky.

Our records show Highmark had been in line for the jurisdiction 15 contract, but a protest was filed against the award. Currently, National Government Services oversees the Medicare program in Kentucky and Palmetto runs the program in Ohio.

Check the postmark date on the envelope of a revalidation request to make sure it's within a week of the date on the letter. If not, let CMS's Physicians Regulatory Issues Team (PRIT) know about it.

In a late May post, PRIT reported two physicians complained about delays in receiving revalidation request letters. One letter was dated March 31 but was postmarked on April 28. Another letter was dated on March 31 and wasn't sent until May 8.

The problem with the delay is that you must respond to a revalidation request within 60 days - otherwise your Medicare billing privileges are revoked. In these cases, days went by before the letters were dropped in the mail and the physicians lost valuable time to complete enrollment applications to revalidate.

PRIT says they worked out this issue with the carrier responsible for the problem, but the Medicare physician troubleshooting team still wants to hear from physician practices if and when the same issue pops up again. PRIT's phone number in Washington is 202-260-7153.

The AMA thinks that meaningful use of an electronic health record (EHR) system will be easier to achieve thanks to changes made in the final rule, but says it's not enough. "Challenges still remain that will make it difficult for physicians to meet the requirements - especially physicians in solo and small practices," said AMA Board Member Steven J. Stack, MD, in a prepared statement.

While the group praised some of the changes -- such as physician choice in which meaningful use criteria they'll meet, lower thresholds for mandatory criteria -- there's still two key problems the AMA still has (read more) ...

There are three big takeaways physician practices should note in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program final rule.

1. You only need to report 20 meaningful use objectives, not all of the 25 measures in the proposed rule released six months ago.
2. You either meet meaningful use requirements by the end of 2014 or face the consequences. Medicare payments will drop by 1% in 2015 for those who fail to (meaningfully) use an EHR in 2014.
3. It's unclear how you will show or report to CMS that you are meeting meaningful use requirements.

Click here for more on the meaningful use rule

Your providers' take-home paychecks from 2009 tell a mixed story, according to the MGMA's 2010 Physician Compensation and Production Survey, the group's annual tome of facts and figures on physician pay. Dermatologists and opthalmologists saw 12.2% and 7.7% pay boosts respectively, while OB/GYNs saw a 1.1% decrease and invasive cardiologists and hematology/oncology saw their paychecks flatline. Primary care doctors enjoyed a modest 2.8% increase.

The group offers a few reasons for dermatology and ophthalmology's big gains; the former's is explained by their "ability to offer elective procedures not covered by insurance and collect the full fee at time of serve" while ophthalmologists are enjoying the profits of increasingly popular laser-refractive surgery, another non-covered service ... (read full post)

The final rule for the Electronic Health Record Incentive Program detailing meaningful use standards is out. We've uploaded it to the PBN Library's Hot Documents folder.

For more on the EHR meaningful use rule

The chart below, edited for the blog, appears in the proposed 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. It illustrates the need for a permanent Medicare payment fix, showing the impact of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) on physician payments over the next six months.

The picture looks bad with payments for high volume services dropping between 2% and 12%, but it's even worse considering the 2010 payments are about 23% less than what is paid today. For example, 99203 (Office/outpatient visit, new) currently pays $99.93, but it's set to pay $76.93 on Dec. 1 and $72.67 on Jan. 1.

Part B News subscribers can see current 2010 Medicare payments along side the December 2010 and January 2011 payments.

Read more on Medicare payments

The White House is using the recess appointment process to seat Harvard health policy professor and former pediatrician Donald Berwick MD at the helm of CMS. The move by the Obama administration avoids Senate confirmation hearings and any further delay of Dr. Berwick overseeing the agency running the Medicare program.

Republicans are unhappy that they are losing the chance to question Dr. Berwick on his positions regarding public run health care and previous statements he has made about rationing health care. Sen. John Barrasso MD, an orthopedic surgeon, (R-Wyo.) states:

"This recess appointment is an insult to the American people. Dr. Berwick is a self professed supporter of rationing health care and he won't even have to explain his views to the American people in a Congressional hearing. Once again, President Obama has made a mockery of his pledge to be accountable and transparent."

Click here to read more on the next CMS administrator