Here are three legislative changes impacting the healthcare industry from the past month for surgery center leaders to note.
CMS waives some penalties associated with physician quality reporting system due to ICD-10 code update issues
CMS is waving some penalties associated with failure to meet physician quality reporting system requirements because of incomplete updates to the ICD-10 code sets. CMS is waiving the 2017 or 2018 PQRS payment adjustments to physicians who failed to "satisfactorily report for 2016 solely as a result of the impact of ICD-10 code updates on quality data reported for the fourth quarter of 2016."
CMS will not finalize Medicare Part B payment proposal
A CMS spokesperson said the agency will not finalize Medicare Part B's payment proposal during President Barack Obama's administration In March 2016, CMS proposed a new payment method for Medicare B drugs, which would try out payment methods in different geographic locations to compare results in various parts of the country.
A CMS spokesperson told AHA News Now, "While there was a great deal of support from some, a number of stakeholders expressed strong concerns about the model. While CMS was working to address these concerns, the complexity of the issues and the limited time available led to the decision not to finalize the rule at this time."
The Joint Commission, CMS ban secure text messaging use for care orders
After allowing physicians to use secure text messaging to send care orders, The Joint Commission and CMS are revising their position and banning the practice. The Joint Commission and CMS consulted with several vendors before they determined "that the impact of secure text orders on patient safety remains unclear."