CSMS has been heavily advocating for the legislature to address the issue of High Deductible Health Plans and the impact they have on physicians and their patients. This Thursday, February 7 we're thrilled to be providing testimony at the public hearing of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee in SUPPORT of Proposed S.B. No. 28 AN ACT CONCERNING REIMBURSEMENTS UNDER CERTAIN HIGH DEDUCTIBLE HEALTH PLANS. The proposed bill, introduced by Senate President Martin Looney, would require health carriers that issue certain high deductible plans to directly reimburse participating providers for the cost of covered benefits.CLICK HERE FOR PUBLIC HEARING INFORMATION …

New CMS Resources for eCQM Development: The Collaborative Measure Development Workspace. The Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM) Strategy Project is an ongoing effort of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and is part of an ongoing commitment to promote efficiency through health information technology while decreasing burden to providers. CMS has now expanded the Electronic Clinical Quality Improvement (eCQI) Resource Center (RC) to include a Collaborative Measure Development (CMD) Workspace. The CMD Workspace brings together a set of interconnected resources, tools, and processes to promote clarity, transparency, and better interaction across stakeholder communities that develop, implement, and report …

We are just a few weeks into the 2019 Legislative Session, and we already have very positive news to share!In 2018, CSMS was the first medical society in the nation to foster legislative discussion on high deductible health plans, calling for legislation to protect physicians with patients in those plans. CSMS called for and obtained a ground-breaking hearing on this issue. We aggressively argued that physicians are not bill collectors and should not be responsible for collecting payments for health insurers.Our efforts and tenacity have paid off! Senate President Martin Looney introduced a bill this week that would require health …

To help you prepare for the 2019 performance year of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), CMS has posted the following new resources to the Quality Payment Program Resource Library. 2019 Medicare Part B Claims Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents - Provides comprehensive descriptions of the 2019 claims measures for the MIPS Quality performance category. 2019 Clinical Quality Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents – Provides comprehensive descriptions of the 2019 clinical quality measures for the MIPS Quality performance category. 2019 CMS Web Interface Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents– Provides comprehensive descriptions of the 2019 CMS Web Interface measures for the …

Monday, January 28, 20196:00 - 8:30 p.m.Willimantic Brewing Company/ Main Street Cafe Tuesday, February 5, 20196:00 - 8:30 p.m.D’Amelio’s Restaurant, Waterbury Attend one (or both) of our FREE networking events to learn more about CSMS, Windham County and New Haven County Medical Associations: advocacy, education, discounts/benefits, and our HIE, CTHealthLink. Drinks & appetizers provided. Space is limited, please RSVP: 203.865.0587 x122 or Email.

If you’re participating in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) or are a representative of an Alternative Payment Model (APM) that reports data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through the QPP website (such as a Medicare Shared Savings Program Accountable Care Organization (ACO)), you can sign in to the QPP website to view, submit, and manage your data. As of December 19, 2018, CMS has updated and streamlined our systems to better serve you.What is Changing?CMS is transitioning the system used to create identity management accounts and request access to the QPP website from the Enterprise Identity …

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opened the Physician Compare preview period on November 30, 2018 at 10 AM ET (7 AM PT). The 30-day preview period provides an opportunity for clinicians and groups to review their 2017 Quality Payment Program performance information before it is publicly reported on Physician Compare profile pages and in the Downloadable Database.The preview period is extended and is now ending Monday, January 7, 2019 at 8pm ET (5 pm PT).You can access the secured measure preview through the Quality Payment Program website.Check out the resources below on how to preview your data: …

The Connecticut State Medical Society is pleased to highlight our partnership with DrFirst and to offer their iPrescribe mobile e-prescribing solution to CSMS members. DrFirst is the industry leader in medication management and is the trusted partner to over 350 EHRs. We partnered with DrFirst because their applications, like iPrescribe, consistently pass stringent audits and certifications with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to be compliant for both legend drugs and controlled substances. They have joined us in the fight against the opioid epidemic by assuring streamlined access to our state’s PDMP, Connecticut Prescription Monitoring and Reporting System (CPMRS), to improve …

CSMS is encouraging our members to weigh in on the Continuing Board Certification: Vision for the Future Commission’s draft recommendations for continuing certification programs by 12 p.m. on Tuesday, January 15.The Vision Commission says that it “considered the input received from key stakeholders reflected in the more than 21 hours of testimony and results of the open stakeholder survey posted this past summer on its website.”Please share your comments with EVP/CEO Matthew Katz at Mkatz@csms.org. Your thoughts will be submitted to the Vision Commission, who will submit its final report to the Board of Directors of the American Board of …

The 2019 Medicare physician fee schedule final rule included several changes when it comes to payment for evaluation-and-management (E/M) services.Physicians should make note about three things in next year’s fee schedule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has postponed the E/M coding “collapse” for at least two years. CMS will postpone its proposal to collapse payment rates for four E/M office visit services into a single blended rate. The AMA advised CMS the proposal could create unintended consequences for specialties that treat the sickest patients and for physicians who provide comprehensive primary care.CMS also announced it …

Physicians, hospitals and behavioral health providers participating in the CTHealthLink health information exchange will appreciate access to a new analytic dashboard—Opioid/Controlled Substances. Developed by physicians in response to the widespread opioid crisis in this country, the new tool supplements the currently available Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).The tool builds upon a more comprehensive set of data than the PDMP, which only utilizes filled prescription data. The new dashboard provides participating clinicians with the list of opioids/controlled substances prescribed or administered to a clinician’s patients even before a prescription is filled at the pharmacy and even if the patient received prescriptions …

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a roadmap with details of their three-pronged approach to combating the opioid epidemic going forward: 1) prevention of new cases of opioid use disorder (OUD); 2) treatment of patients who have already become dependent on or addicted to opioids; and 3) utilization of data from across the country to better target prevention and treatment activities.CMS seeks to strengthen and broaden its partnership with providers to address the opioid crisis through their 2019 Medicare Part D opioid overutilization initiatives.Click here to download the Prescriber’s Guide to the New Medicare Part D Opioid …

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated the list of Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) that are fully specified and are available to be used for the 2019 performance period in the Quality Payment Program, which were finalized in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) Final Rule.Updated list of eCQMs and supporting documents can be found on the eCQI Resource Center for the following programs: Quality Payment Program: The Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs) Advanced APM: Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) Medicaid Promoting Interoperability Program for Eligible Professionals(formerly known as …

QPP Tip of the MonthThe “test” and “partial” participation options that were available for the CY 2017 MIPS participation period are no longer available for the CY 2018 MIPS participation period. To avoid the 2020 MIPS payment adjustment, based on 2018 MIPS participation, physicians will need a minimum of 15 points across all four MIPS categories – quality, improvement activities, promoting interoperability, and cost. Potential ways to achieve the minimum 15 points include: 100 percent score in improvement activities category – reporting medium/high weight activities to achieve a total of 40 points Achieving 18 points out of a total of …

It is heartbreaking to see the destruction caused by the current wild fires devastating California. We thank the brave fire fighters and medical professionals who are doing whatever they can to preserve life. Click here to learn more about how you can help.Healthcare demands rise dramatically when threatened with a natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado, or wild fires. Significantly impacted are patient access to care, access to health data, and clinician workflows. Determining the best course of medical action requires secure access to patient records. For both the provider and the patient, the health information exchange (HIE) …

CSMS will review/examine these changes and report back to our members. Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized bold proposals that address provider burnout and provide clinicians immediate relief from excessive paperwork tied to outdated billing practices. The final 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and the Quality Payment Program (QPP) rule released today also modernizes Medicare payment policies to promote access to virtual care, saving Medicare beneficiaries time and money while improving their access to high-quality services, no matter where they live. It makes changes to ease health information exchange through improved interoperability and updates QPP measures …

Nearly 100% of chief medical information officers (CMIOs) in US hospitals believe medication management improvement initiatives are having a positive impact and that patient safety issues are less likely to occur today, as compared to five years ago, according to a new survey from the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS). The survey of physician leaders, sponsored by DrFirst, also revealed that CMIOs believe there is more work to be done to address gaps that could potentially impact patient safety.Among the top patient safety gaps identified by CMIOs is the “inability to prevent financial constraints” from impacting patients’ …

The Physicians Advocacy Institute (PAI), of which CSMS is a part of, recently sent a letter in response to CMS' request for information on the need for modernization of "anti-kickback" laws. CSMS contributed significantly to the development of this letter and it is consistent with our previous comments to CMS regarding CMMI, APMs, stark and self-referral statutes and initiatives.Three high-level recommendations are included in the letter: Establish clear exceptions to the Statute and CMP restrictions for payment models and demonstrations and other arrangements that promote physician-led initiatives to value-based care. Allow for physicians to align with other high-quality providers (clinical …

CSMS is committed to being your voice at the state Capitol and in Washington DC. Throughout this election year cycle, our dedicated team has reached out to those running for office to make sure that they know about the struggles and frustrations of our physician members. We are pleased to share highlights with you now and encourage you to vote on November 6th in support of the candidates who support the practice of medicine and quality health care. The candidates running for Congress, Governor and Attorney General were invited to share a statement with CSMS members regarding healthcare and the …

October 4, 2018CSMS voiced opposition to the proposed CVS Aetna merger at a CT Insurance Department (CID) public hearing. We have submitted testimony (available here) that challenges the merger on anti-trust grounds. A special thank you the American Medical Association (AMA) for their tremendous amount of support and assistance throughout this process and for providing additional testimony at this hearing. We will keep you informed of further developments. UPDATE: 10/11/18Department of Justice preliminary approved the merger of CVS and Aetna. CSMS and the AMA's oppositions were sited in a Think Advisor publication. Read the article here. UPDATE: 10/18/18The Connecticut Insurance Department has …