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Quality Payment Program: The proposed updates slated for 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on surgery and medicine continues, prompting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to propose changes in year five of the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP). These changes were to take effect Jan. 1, 2021.…
SVS president ponders challenges in year ahead
New SVS president Ronald L. Dalman, MD, has several initiatives he’d like to see move forward during the year of his presidency. These include a number of areas members have found challenging. “We put together the Crawford Forum [E. Stanley…
Medicare reimbursement fails to adequately cover cost of care after open bypass surgery among most CLTI patients
For most patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), Medicare reimbursement for lower extremity bypass surgery does not adequately account for case complexity in the compensation of vascular surgeons, a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Vascular…
Join the fight: The useful job of lobbying members of Congress
Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) members can help in the fight against announced reimbursement reductions included in the calendar year 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). One of the best ways is by lobbying your local member of Congress. Members…
Action plan: How to help halt sharp cuts to Medicare
They are the sort of cuts the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) says will have a massive impact on vascular surgery practices for years to come. The recently released Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)…
Take action to stop projected Medicare surgery cuts
The proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule for 2021 was released Aug. 3 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), revealing vascular and general surgeons face a projected 7% reduction in Medicare payments. The rule includes proposals to…
SVS joins Surgical Care Coalition in fight against Medicare cuts
The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has joined the Surgical Care Coalition as part of a show of solidarity against pending Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) payment cuts. News of the move was announced in a communique from…
Advocating for our members
COVID-19 has altered almost all of our lives to a degree previously unimaginable. Millions of Americans continue to lose their jobs, hundreds of thousands have contracted the disease and thousands have succumbed to this virus. In hard-hit states such as…
Shockwave Medical announces new CMS codes for intravascular lithotripsy
Shockwave Medical has announced new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) codes for intravascular lithotripsy (IVL), a procedure performed in peripheral arteries in both hospital outpatient and inpatient settings. The new Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) outpatient and…
Preparing for arrival of CMS Quality Payment Program year 4
It’s here: 2020 is year four of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), established by the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015. QPP requires that most physicians who submit claims to the Centers for Medicare…