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Grappling with the healthcare vision of a new administration
As the new administration headed up by President Donald Trump gets underway, work has begun on his vision for a fundamental transformation of the federal government, including some aspects of the healthcare delivery system. While the specialty will continue to…
SVS calls for comments on Vascular Surgery MIPS Value Pathway
The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) announced that the Vascular Surgery MIPS Value Pathway (MVP) was posted for public comment by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Developed by the SVS Quality and Performance Measure Committee (QPMC), the…
Legislation targets stability for physicians amid Medicare cuts
Physicians are facing a fifth consecutive year of Medicare payment reductions due to policy adjustments and budget neutrality requirements in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. To address the issue, the SVS, in collaboration with congressional leaders and other physician organizations,…
Track your wRVUs, because no one else does it better
If you were in the audience at the 2024 Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS) annual meeting, you might have been taken aback by the presentation from UT Health San Antonio and the San Antonio VA Medical Center, presented by…
Novel measure suggests 20% of elective carotid revascularizations fail to achieve a textbook outcome
One in five patients failed to achieve a textbook outcome after undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA), transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) or transfemoral carotid artery stenting (TF-CAS), a Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) analysis that tested a novel, patient-centric textbook outcome metric found.…
Contego Medical’s Neuroguard IEP system receives US FDA approval for carotid revascularisation
Contego Medical today announced the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) premarket approval (PMA) of the Neuroguard IEP system for carotid revascularisation. The company shares in a press release that clinical studies of the Neuroguard IEP system, including the PERFORMANCE…
CMS considers new approaches to quality payment program with MVPs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are exploring strategies to enhance the Quality Payment Program (QPP), underscoring an effort to boost healthcare quality and efficiency. Launched on Jan. 1, 2017, the QPP was designed to inspire clinicians to…
New data underscore physician experience levels required to derive benefit from transfemoral carotid artery stenting
Data from a new study that maps out the levels at which adverse postoperative events decrease following transfemoral carotid artery stenting (TfCAS) based on depth of physician experience with the procedure represent an “absolute minimum threshold of learning,” the lead…
I’m just a bill: An overview of health-related committees on Capitol Hill
In the U.S., the legislative process is complex. Among the most important in this process are congressional committees, which play a pivotal role in shaping policy concepts, drafting legislative proposals and shepherding them through the path to becoming law. These…
Budget neutrality and code valuation basics
So, what is budget neutrality and how does it affect physician payment? The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is a resource-based relative value scale (RVS) payment system, where relative value units (RVUs) are based on resource costs associated with physician…