Tag: CMS

New data underscore physician experience levels required to derive benefit from...

Data from a new study that maps out the levels at which ad­verse postoperative events decrease following transfemoral carotid artery stenting (TfCAS) based on...

I’m just a bill: An overview of health-related committees on Capitol...

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...

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...

A proposal to save vascular surgery

In response to recent articles in the lay press suggesting vascular surgeons were performing unnecessary procedures, Vascular Specialist medical editor, Malachi Sheahan, has asked...

SVS webinar aims to tackle upcoming changes to CMS reporting requirements

The SVS will host a webinar Feb. 29 to help equip members with insights on impending Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reporting...
top 10

The top 10 most popular Vascular Specialist stories of January 2024

In January, the most read stories from Vascular Specialist include a U.S. Aortic Research Consortium analysis of F/BEVAR preoperative risk factors in AAAs/TAAAs; a...

SVS points to 2023 achievements, challenges in coming year

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) reflects on a year marked by notable achievements on multiple fronts. In a communication to members in mid-December,...
Detour

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services grants Transitional Pass-Through payment for...

Endologix recently announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted a Transitional Pass-Through (TPT) payment for the Detour system, effective...

Carotid stenting rebuttal: Those who live in glass houses…

Christopher J. White, MD, responds to a recent editorial by Malachi Sheahan III, MD, that took a critical look at the decision by the...

‘There is no reliable way to measure carotid stenosis—methods have changed...

The recent move to expand Medicare coverage of carotid stenting formed the basis of a recent debate over the wisdom of the decision taken...
top 10

The top 10 most popular Vascular Specialist stories of November 2023

In November, the most read stories from Vascular Specialist include a reassessment of which carotid revascularization treatment modality is best after the recent Centers...

Impact of the CMS proposed rule on the QPP for 2024

This summer the center for medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its annual Physician Fee Schedule and Proposed Rule for calendar year 2024, and...

New survey shows transcarotid artery revascularization patients report faster recovery than...

This advertorial is sponsored by Silk Road Medical. For Scott Berman, MD, patient responses when confronted with an explanation of the extent of their asymptomatic...

Carotid disease: Getting to the right decision

The recent move by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to expand coverage for carotid artery stenting brought with it the requirement...

SVS launches expansion of coding resources

The SVS has announced an expansion of its coding-related information and help in response to increasing member demand. The new resources will assist vascular...

SVS submits comment letter on Medicare fee schedule to CMS

In September, the Society for Vascular Surgery submitted a detailed comment letter to the Cen­ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in re­sponse to...

The ‘modern’ VA has made great strides with patient outcomes and...

Data can be granular and clarifying. Conversely, data without appropriate context can lack nuance—like a paint-by-numbers portrait using only one crayon. A recent article publivenshed...

CMS confirms broadened Medicare coverage of carotid artery stenting in final...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its final decision regarding National Coverage Determination (NCD) 20.7 covering carotid artery stenting (CAS),...

From the editor: Sex, lies, and carotid stents

First, a disclaimer. This commentary is woefully short of sex-related content. Not even the wholesome gender-based outcomes stuff. So, if that key term brought...

Amplifying advocacy: SVS tool for vascular influence on the federal stage

In the dynamic arena of healthcare advocacy, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) stands as a champion, harnessing the power of amplification to thrust...

Why CMS should still not extend reimbursement indications for carotid stenting...

This commentary—authored by Anne Abbott, PhD, MBBS, Lawrence Schott, MD, Lan Gao, MMed, PhD, Hrvoje Budincevic, MD, PhD, Rishad Faruqi, MD, Tatjana Rundek, MD,...

CMS: Proposed reduced conversion factor would cut vascular surgeon reimbursements

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in mid-July released two payment-related proposed rules—the highly-anticipated calendar year (CY) 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule...

SVS members rally to respond to CMS carotid stenting coverage proposal

Nearly one-third of the public comments submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on a controversial proposed coverage decision affecting carotid...

SVS responds to CMS proposed coverage expansion for carotid stenting

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) and its affiliated Patient Safety Organization (PSO)/Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) have submitted a formal response to the Centers...

SVS urges members to make voices heard on CMS carotid stenting...

The SVS has created a template to help members transmit comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding proposed major adjustments...

Comments sought on CMS proposed coverage expansion for carotid stenting

SVS members are encouraged to submit comments—due Aug. 10—to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on its proposed national coverage determination on...

SVS coding workshop coming in October

The SVS’ 2023 Coding and Reimbursement Workshop will help participants learn about accurate coding and reimbursement for vascular surgery. The intensive two-day program will...
AMA

SVS member elected to RUC committee

SVS member David Han, MD, has been re-elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) Relative Values Scale (RVS) Update Committee (RUC). Han’s two-year term...

Has the risk in the value-based payment model been sold as...

Value-based payments (VBP), or “volume to value,” was the new buzz word over a decade ago, promising yet another chimera in ways to reimburse...

SVS ends 2022 with latest ‘Week of Action’ to prevent Medicare...

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) issued its thanks to December “Week of Action” participants. Once again, SVS members showed incredible support for the Society’s...

CMS: An update on quality measures for vascular surgery

An upcoming national reporting change/addition from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) includes three important elements of which Society for Vascular Surgery...

SVS weighs in on 2023 Medicare payment rules for physicians and...

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has submitted comment letters in response to the proposed rules issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...

Terumo Aortic announces new technology add-on payment for Thoraflex Hybrid device...

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has granted approval of a new technology add-on payment (NTAP) for Terumo Aortic’s Thoraflex Hybrid device—used...

No time like the present: The moral imperative for advocacy in...

“I’m so sorry but we have to cancel your surgery”—10 words any warm-blooded surgeon dreads uttering. This time around, it was not for the...

SVS advocacy in action: Protecting and advancing the interests of vascular...

Deep in to the second half of the year, there is no rest for the weary regarding Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) advocacy initiatives....
AMA

SVS meets AMA membership requirement, retains House of Delegates seat 

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has exceeded the necessary compliance threshold required to retain its seat in the American Medical Association (AMA) House...

SVS addresses pair of critical payment-related proposed rules

In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released two critical payment-related proposed rules for CY2023—the highly anticipated Medicare Physician Fee Schedule...

Patient-reported outcomes in vascular surgery are here to stay

In 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is again emphasizing the importance of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) through legislation regarding the Quality...

SVS looks to maintain AMA House of Delegates representation

To maintain its seat in the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates—and, importantly, be able to provide information that impacts physician reimbursement—a 20%...

Expanded Medicare coverage for TCAR in standard surgical risk patients...

Silk Road Medical today announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), through collaboration with the Society of Vascular Surgery's Patient Safety...

SVS’ AMA membership push aimed at safeguarding vascular surgery voice on...

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) is urging members to join the American Medical Association (AMA) in a bid to maintain a critical voice...

Priorities and objectives will guide 2022 SVS programs

Whether it’s branding, advocacy or determining research initiatives, the process of setting Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) priorities and objectives begins with SVS members....

We need voices as well as opinions

I have a message for my colleagues on behalf of Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Political Action Committee (PAC), quoting the famous lines from...

Philips announces large-scale study outcomes on use of IVUS in peripheral...

Royal Philips has announced the results of a new large-scale real-world analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data on the health...

SVS: Impact of Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule remains threat...

The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule released Nov. 2 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) doubles down on the...

Learn best-, worst-case and likely scenarios of upcoming planned cuts to...

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) will hold a Town Hall Nov. 10 to help members understand the upcoming planned federal cuts that would...

SVS task force continues fight to stop cuts

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Medicare Cuts Task Force is continuing its work to stop the proposed cuts in physician reimbursement from going...

Physicians draw attention to Medicare cuts as PAD Awareness Month kicks...

A coalition of physicians and other interested parties focused on peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has called on Congress and the Centers for Medicare and...

SVS billing and coding workshop to take place Dec. 5 and...

While a surgeon’s expertise is key to patient outcomes, coding and documenting the procedures are key to the surgeon’s payment and reimbursement. And, when...

Research letter highlights low adoption of supervised exercise therapy for PAD

A research letter published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes highlights a “very low” utilization of supervised exercise therapy (SET) in symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients...

Medicare: Surgical Care Coalition urges Congress to halt proposed cuts to...

The proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for calendar year 2022 (CY2022) released Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fails to...

Why donate to the SVS PAC?

A few years ago, in his presidential address to the Midwestern Vascular Surgical Society (MVSS), Mark Mattos, MD, spoke eloquently about the need to...

Medicare E&M coding changes and EHR physician burnout

A recent article published in Vascular Specialist summarized data regarding the undeniable relationship between electronic health records (EHRs) and burnout amongst physicians. There is...

‘Disproportionate decrease’: Vascular surgeons see buying power fall, study finds

Inflation-adjusted Medicare reimbursement rates for the 20 most common vascular surgical procedures decreased by more than 20% in the last decade, a new analysis...

ACC.21: SAFE-PAD finds no increased risk of death with drug-coated devices

Researchers have found no statistically significant difference in mortality between patients treated with drug-coated devices and non-drug-coated devices in the SAFE-PAD study. Eric Secemsky,...

Intermittent claudication and exercise therapy: A poor SET-up

Many of you may have already heard about the controversial Comparative Billing Reports (CBRs) that have been received by some of our vascular surgery...

Key MACRA changes highlighted

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is in its fifth calendar year, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) continues...

Channeling SVS messaging across diffuse mediums

In order to recognize the diverse ways members interact and consume information, a new Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Communications Committee, replete with three...

OBL: In praise of the office-based interventional lab

Vascular surgery has undergone dramatic changes over the last 30 years. What was once a traditional open surgical discipline has now become a hybrid...

Democrats take control with Biden presidency, majorities in both chambers

Democratic victories for Georgia’s two Senate seats in the runoff election Jan. 5 have solidified the Democrats’ control of the federal government for the...

Congress delays steep Medicare payment cuts

Both the House of Representatives and Senate have approved legislation to delay steep cuts to Medicare that were set to take effect Jan. 1,...

CMS creates new codes for IVL performed below the knee

Shockwave Medical has announced that as part of the calendar year 2021 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) final rule, the Centers for...

SVS details opposition, support to CMS proposed rules

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) has submitted comment letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on two proposed rules that...

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...

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...

Medicare reimbursement fails to adequately cover cost of care after open...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Embracing new definition of healthcare as digital age confronts holdouts

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged our healthcare system like nothing before. We have confronted other diseases like influenza, tuberculosis,...

CMS outlines recommendations for re-starting non-emergent procedures

On 18 March, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended “limiting non-essential care and expanding surge capacity into ambulatory surgical centers and...

SVS remains nimble in face of spreading pandemic, pivots to member...

The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) started 2020 with plans intensifying for the Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC) in May, the Vascular Annual Meeting...

CMS announces temporary waivers that include expansion of telehealth coverage

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a series of temporary regulatory waivers and new rules designed to help the U.S....

National emergency loosens restrictions on use of telemedicine, says VESS secretary

Performance of telemedicine has been made easier and more accessible after regulations and limitations on its use were waived in the wake of the...

CMS publishes 2020 round of coding changes for vascular surgeons

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided some light reading with the publication of the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS), Hospital Outpatient...