Health care reimbursement is changing rapidly from volume-based to value-based. Although it isn’t yet clear how comprehensive the change will be, physiatrists, like other physicians, are seeking ways to re-envision their practices to demonstrate increased quality and patient satisfaction without raising costs (or even potentially lowering costs).
An example is Gwendolyn Sowa, MD, PhD, a physiatrist who has started a musculoskeletal health program at the University of Pittsburgh. We connected with Dr. Sowa to learn more about her efforts in developing this program. View the July issue of The Physiatrist for the full interview.
Academy member Jonathan Kirschner, MD, assistant attending physiatrist at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and an assistant professor of clinical rehabilitation medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been selected to represent the Academy to the United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI).
The USBJI is a rapidly-developing organization with a goal of restoring activity, function, and comfort for those with musculoskeletal injuries and disorders. Being a member of USBJI allows AAPM&R to interact with more than 100 other member organizations in the musculoskeletal community, ensure that PM&R's voice is heard, and that our priorities and concerns are communicated. Learn more.
We want you to help raise awareness for PM&R by answering the question, “What is PM&R?” You tell us—how would you describe physiatry to your friends and family? Take your answer and turn it into a short video (which doesn’t need to be fancy!) and submit it to pressinquiries@aapmr.org. Creator(s) of the winning video will be featured at #AAPMR2016 and will receive complimentary tickets to the President’s Reception. Hurry; learn more and submit your videos by July 31, 2016!
NEW in 2016! The Cancer Rehabilitation Summit: Integration into Practice will highlight the unique opportunities for physiatrists in the cancer care continuum, different practice models of cancer rehabilitation, and common cancer-related impairments that can benefit from a physiatric approach. Attendees will walk away with major bullet-pointed clinical skills that can be immediately implemented into their practice. View the full agenda.
No matter your clinical focus or practice setting, you will be positively or negatively impacted by the changes occurring in health care as a result of the Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Be informed; Be MACRA ready. Take a look at these sessions that you’ll want to make sure are part of your #AAPMR2016 experience.
Volunteer a bit of your time during the 2016 Annual Assembly—and reap the rewards! Various workshops require the assistance of volunteers and your Academy welcomes and appreciates the help of its resident members. Residents who volunteer to assist with a workshop will be given complimentary access to that session and are eligible for remuneration ($100 per day for most).
If you are interested in volunteering, please access the 2016 Annual Assembly Workshop Volunteer Survey. Contact the AAPM&R Meetings Team at meetings@aapmr.org with any questions.
Take a leadership role and advance your knowledge of proper opioid prescribing with your Academy’s new activity, the REMS Playbook for Opioid Prescribing. Available on the mē® Catalog, this interactive learning experience offers education to all physicians on extended-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioid analgesics. A fun, sports-themed learning experience with interactive modules and games is incorporated throughout the activity—plus you’ll earn up to 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Learn more and get started.
The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) is a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-mandated quality reporting program that gives eligible professionals (EPs) incentives and negative payment adjustments to promote reporting of quality information.
PQRSwizard® is an online reporting tool, offered in partnership with CECity, which allows for individual EPs to report their PQRS data. The tool is now open for 2016 reporting. Physicians must successfully participate in PQRS in 2016 to avoid up to an 8-10% penalty in 2018. 2016 data is due February 28, 2017. Learn more.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) published final rules in the Federal Register on July 1, 2016 for evaluating neurological disorders. The rules take effect on September 29, 2016 and will remain in effect for 5 years unless the effective date is extended. Learn more.
Three Medicare Contractor Advisory Committees (CACs) are seeking representatives for physical medicine and rehabilitation. If you reside in Indiana, Kansas or Michigan and would like to influence Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) in your jurisdiction, this is the perfect opportunity. CAC participation and information obtained from meetings can be used to update the national or state specialty societies on important issues.
More information on CAC participation can be found here. If you are interested in serving as a representative in one of the aforementioned states, please send a statement of interest and your curriculum vitae to healthpolicy@aapmr.org.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has asked the Academy to remind members that balance billing is prohibited for Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program. CMS has conveyed their concern that some physicians are still billing QMB beneficiaries, despite the existing prohibition. The QMB program is a Medicaid program that helps very low-income dual eligible beneficiaries—e.g., individuals who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid—with Medicare cost-sharing. Learn more.
The United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI) and Bone and Joint Canada are dedicated to increasing research of musculoskeletal diseases and has developed a grant mentoring program to provide early-career investigators an opportunity to work with experienced researchers to assist them in securing funding and other survival skills required for pursuing an academic career.
The fall workshop will be held November 4-6, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario. The deadline to apply is July 15, 2016. Learn more and apply for this program.
Do you have a newsworthy story to share with your peers? Send us an email at: pressinquiries@aapmr.org.