Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia, and now South Carolina have passed laws intending to limit licensing boards, hospitals and insurers from requiring the MOC program that is promoted by ABMS and its affiliated specialty societies. Seven more states have taken the partial step of prohibiting MOC requirements as a condition of licensure, and seventeen states have […]
Recent polls show that “healthcare is the No. 1 issue for voters,” writes Robert Pearl in Forbes. Their concerns are quite valid, states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS): Costs are too high, most Americans can’t afford them, and they are not getting what they are paying for. However, the fact that 57% […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a Proposed Rule to “blend” payments for higher-level office visits, while decreasing the documentation requirements, as part of its Patients over Paperwork initiative. CMS claims this will save clinicians 51 hours per year—likely a gross underestimate—while critics protest that doctors will get paid the same […]
The Trump Administration is liberalizing the rules to allow more people to have short-term, limited duration health insurance, but the rule is on a “crash course with a brick wall in California,” according to Kaiser Health News. In addition, a lawsuit is being filed in Maryland federal court by the cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, […]
Today, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) asked GOP Doctors Caucus chairs, Rep. Phil Roe and Rep. Andy Harris, to rethink their support for trapping more small, independent physicians’ practices in Medicare red tape in order to increase the incentive payments to large practices. The AAPS letter reads in part: “On behalf of […]
The momentum for “single payer,” “Medicare for All,” or “Medicare Extra” is building at both the state and national levels, especially after the narrow primary election victory of young democratic socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in New York, observes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The sky-high premiums, huge deductibles, and complexities of ObamaCare make […]
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 6199 Wednesday, intended to help patients take advantage of the new movement toward affordable, accessible, personalized primary care called DPC for Direct Primary Care. A monthly membership fee often less than $100 gives patients quick access to their personal physician of choice, including many tests and procedures. Some practices […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has acknowledged the tremendous administrative burden physicians bear for documenting office visits for evaluation and management (E/M), states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). There are five levels of E/M visits with AMA-copyrighted codes, each requiring a set of “bullet points” in the record of […]
The growing Direct Primary Care (DPC) model is allowing patients and doctors to design their own “healthcare reform.” In exchange for a membership fee, patients receive timely access to unhurried visits, personalized care, and a range of other items that might include laboratory testing and medications, explains the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). […]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been referred to as the top “Medicaid Fraud Dogg,” has announced an “historic” roundup of 601 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals, in a $2 billion bust. Fraud in Medicaid is indeed “stunning,” according to a report released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “But $2 billion is much […]