AAPM&R Connection E-Newsletter

Your bi-weekly enewsletter has moved to a weekly distribution! This will help you receive immediate updates about health policy/advocacy, education, and Academy and PM&R-specialty news. Find all of our news updates here.

Fun news! We're giving away 4 mē^® gift cards worth $50 each during the month of April. All you have to do is update your member profile here, and you'll be entered in the raffle.

We'll randomly choose 1 winner per week and those winners will be posted on our website. Learn more here.

In celebration of National Volunteer Week, we would like to acknowledge and applaud the hard work and dedication of all Academy volunteers. We wouldn’t be where we are today without your help. You are what ties all Academy resources, services, and events together. Thank you for your commitment! Visit our National Volunteer Week page to check out our special “thank you” ad.

Exciting news! Your Academy’s new website—www.aapmr.org—recently won the Website of the Year Award from Sitefinity, the platform that hosts the website. Thank you to our many volunteers who provided their input and suggestions to help make www.aapmr.org an award-winning website!

The United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI), in partnership with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), recently released the executive summary of the Burden of Musculoskeletal Diseases in the United States: Prevalence, Societal, and Economic Costs (BMUS).

Your Academy is a founding member of USBJI, as well as a BMUS Steering Committee member, and directly contributed to the funding and content of the BMUS. Because of your support, through AAPM&R membership, we’re able to get involved in these efforts and advocate for the PM&R specialty.

Keep an eye on your mailbox for the latest issue of The Physiatrist. The April issue features:

• AAPM&R's Advocacy Strategy: Action with an Impact
• AAPM&R and AANS Co-Leading Development of Spine Patient Registry
• Rehabilitation Research Bill Passes in Key Senate Committee Vote
• Your Academy’s Health Policy & Legislation Committee Advocates for PM&R on Capitol Hill
• AAPM&R Leading Education Efforts to Address Opioid Crisis
  

Your Academy has developed a highly interactive educational activity for physicians who want to take a leadership role in balancing the benefits of prescribing extended-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioid analgesics to treat pain against the risks of serious adverse outcomes.

The online activity, REMS Playbook for Opioid Prescribing, is now available on the mē^® Catalog. Earn up to 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ with this complimentary activity! Learn more.

Visit www.aapmr.org/coding for all of your Academy’s coding resources.

The American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPMR) Part I Examination is August 9, 2016. Get a head start on studying with your Academy’s must-have resources, including:

• Certification Exam Prep Qbank—800+ questions covering the breadth of the Part I Exam.
• Abridged SAE-R Exams—questions from past SAE-R exams covering 10-12 clinical areas of PM&R.
• MOC|3 Online Review Courses—slide presentations accompanied by detailed lectures on core PM&R topics.
• And more!

Find all of the above and other great study resources on me.aapmr.org.

AAPM&R’s legislative, regulatory, and grassroots advocacy efforts are designed to ensure that the practice of physiatry is positioned to flourish in the ever-changing health care landscape. Your Academy continues to advocate for the entire specialty and its important contribution to the health, function, and quality of life for patients around the country, before Congress and federal agencies.

Visit www.aapmr.org and explore the Advocacy page to find these resources, such as our online Advocacy Action Center, position statements, and updates on reimbursement and research advocacy.

Academy members Jana Friedly, MD and Thiru Annaswamy, MD, played key roles in developing the recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) evidence-based comparative effectiveness review on noninvasive treatments for low back pain.

The review concluded that more research is needed to understand optimal selection of treatments, effective combinations and sequencing of treatments, effectiveness of treatments for radicular low back pain, and effectiveness on outcomes other than pain and function. Learn more here.

Your Academy has released an assessment of the National Pain Strategy, detailing the Academy's original comments, National Pain Strategy objectives, and outcomes.

View the National Pain Strategy assessment.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is hosting a call covering the 2016 Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and related resources. The presentation will cover guidance and instructions on how individual eligible professionals and PQRS group practices can get started, satisfactorily report/participate, and avoid the 2018 PQRS negative payment adjustment. A question and answer session will follow the presentation. Learn more and sign up here.

Groups can register to participate in the 2016 PQRS Group Reporting Option (GPRO) via the Physician Value—Physician Quality Reporting System (PV-PQRS) Registration System. PQRS GPRO is an option available to groups with 2 or more eligible professionals (EPs). Groups must meet the satisfactory reporting criteria through the PQRS GPRO in order to avoid the -2.0% CY 2018 PQRS payment adjustment. Learn more.

CMS has released the 2015 Mid-Year Quality and Resource Use Reports (QRURs) to groups and solo practitioners nationwide, including those who participated in the Shared Savings Program, the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model or the Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative in 2015. Learn more.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the beginning of the 45-day Open Payments Review and dispute period beginning Friday, April 1, 2016. After the conclusion of the review and dispute period on May 15, CMS will publish the 2015 payment data and updates to the 2013 and 2014 data on June 30, 2016. Learn more.

A new blog post from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been posted: Our Hopes for the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Model. Read more.

The Foundation for PM&R is seeking proposals for the following research grants during the spring 2016 research grant awards cycle. Application forms and criteria can be found here. All awards will be presented at the AAPM&R 2016 Annual Assembly, October 20-23 in New Orleans. Applications must be submitted by May 1, 2016. Learn more here.