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Now Available: Telehealth Indicator for Doctors and Clinicians on Care Compare
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added a new telehealth indicator on clinician profile pages on Medicare Care Compare and in the Provider Data Catalog (PDC). The new indicator helps beneficiaries and caregivers more easily find clinicians who provide telehealth services.
Telemedicine services expanded in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency to improve patients’ access to care. Last year, CMS reported a 30-fold increase in telehealth services, with more than half of Medicare beneficiaries utilizing them between March 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. The telehealth indicator is the latest example of CMS’s efforts to ensure Care Compare provides beneficiaries and caregivers meaningful information about services they value as they search for clinicians.
For more information, access the Telehealth Indicator on Medicare Care Compare fact sheet.
If you have any questions about the telehealth indicator or public reporting for doctors and clinicians on Care Compare, contact the QPP Service Center at 1-866-288-8292 (Monday-Friday 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET) or by e-mail at [email protected]. To receive assistance more quickly, consider calling during non-peak hours (before 10 a.m. and after 2 p.m. ET). Customers who are hard of hearing can dial 711 to be connected to a TRS Communications Assistant. |
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APTA’s Practice Advisory on Anxiety Screening
Be prepared to take part in patient screenings for anxiety in your role as a primary care clinician with APTA's Practice Advisory on Anxiety Screening
The United States Preventive Services Task Force has released a draft recommendation that primary care clinicians screen all adult patients under 65 for anxiety. The draft recommendation complements guidance that the task force formally adopted in 2022, recommending anxiety screening in children and teens ages 8-18, essentially recommending screening for all people ages 8 to 64.
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APTA Statement on Medicare Cuts
The following statement was released on December 20, 2022 by American Physical Therapy Association President Roger Herr, PT, MPA.
Congress has delivered the 2023 omnibus spending bill, and while it contains some positive aspects it does not nearly go far enough.
APTA and other health care organizations representing over 1 million providers across the country made a compelling case for a full restoration of the unsustainable payment cuts included in the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. While lawmakers did provide a 2.5% funding increase in the recently released bill to mitigate the impending 2023 cuts, they unfortunately failed to deliver on the full 4.5% increase needed to ensure patient access to care and the financial viability providers’ practices.
These cuts to the conversion factor used in calculating payment will affect 27 specialties, including physical therapy. Our patients are now at risk of losing access to our services.
APTA agrees with the American Medical Association in our mutual dismay over Congress’ failure to fully commit to protecting patients’ access to needed care. This spending bill underscores our belief that the entire fee schedule system needs an overhaul. Providers should not be made to carry an outdated system’s dysfunction on their backs, and we cannot expect Congress to come to the rescue year after year.
The path ahead is clear: We will continue to lead the charge and advocate before Congress in 2023 to overhaul and reform Medicare payment. And we will continue to fight for patients' access to essential health services and reduced administrative burden. We are committed to finding long-term solutions, not temporary fixes, when the 118th Congress convenes in January.
The voices of our members are critical to these efforts. APTA has published a summary of relevant elements of the omnibus package, including other APTA-supported bills that were included. And please continue to monitor the APTA Advocacy Center for up-to-date information on our 2023 legislative priorities and what you can do to fuel real change. |
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Final Spending Bill Falls Short in Offsetting Fee Schedule Cuts
APTA
The omnibus package likely to pass provides insufficient relief, but it does include several wins for the profession in other areas.
In a disappointing response to advocacy that brought the concerns of millions of health care providers to Capitol Hill, the U.S. Congress is poised to approve an end-of-year spending package that fails to fully restore cuts included in the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Rather than provide the needed full 4.5% in funding that would offset reductions in the conversion factor, lawmakers opted for a smaller 2.5% increase this year and an even smaller 1.25% increase in 2024. The resulting cuts will affect 27 specialties, including physical therapy.
The spending decision was included in sweeping omnibus legislation that incorporates elements of multiple bills whose fates hadn't been resolved. While the resulting last-minute legislative mixed bag is short on fee schedule fixes, the bill does include APTA-supported gains in other areas including telehealth, workforce diversity, lymphedema treatment, and the role of PTs and PTAs in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
'Failure to Fully Commit to Protecting Patient Access'
For the health care provider community, the most significant feature of the omnibus package — the provision of a 2.5% conversion factor funding increase rather than the needed 4.5% infusion — was the final chapter in a yearlong fight to convince Congress to once again intervene to buffer the harm included in the upcoming Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
As it has for the past two years, in 2022 the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a fee schedule for 2023 that offsets increases to payment for codes related to evaluation and management with significant cuts to the conversion factor, a key element used in determining payment associated with codes used by a wide range of providers.
APTA and 100 other provider and patient organizations joined in an effort to press Congress to provide a 4.5% spending increase to fully offset the fee schedule cuts. In the end, rather than stepping in at the 11th hour to provide full or nearly full offsets as it did for the past two years, Congress opted to scale back the relief.
While the 2.5% funding increase will lessen the severity of the cuts, providers will still be left to deal with reductions just as the country's health care system continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The response from provider groups was immediate, with organizations such as the American Medical Association and the Surgical Care Coalition expressing their frustration at Congress’ failure to provide the full 4.5% funding.
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Seasonal Influenza Health Alert
Seasonal influenza activity is high across the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the 2022-2023 season to date, there have been at least 13 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations, and 7,300 deaths from influenza (Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report | CDC). While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not indicated shortages of oseltamivir (generic or Tamiflu) in any of its forms (capsules, oral suspension), CDC has received numerous anecdotal reports of availability issues for generic oseltamivir in some locations [1]. This may continue to occur in some communities as influenza activity continues.
This Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory provides clinicians and public health officials with guidance for prioritizing oseltamivir for treatment and information on other influenza antivirals that are recommended for treating influenza in areas where oseltamivir is temporarily unavailable. |
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