1. Home
  2. Advocacy
  3. Latest News and Practice Data
  4. August 1, 2017

STATLINE

Read the Latest Issue of STATLINE

August 1, 2017

In This Issue:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that some clinicians may be exempt from participating in the Quality Payment Program through a Special Status calculation, including non-patient facing and hospital-based clinicians. The CAP had strongly advocated for this exemption to ensure flexibility for pathologists to participate in the program.

In order to qualify for Special Status, the CMS must retrieves and analyzes your practices' Medicare Part B claims data. The CMS will run a series of calculations with the clinician's practice against the special rules under the Quality Payment Program that will affect the number of total measures, activities or entire categories that an individual clinician or group must report. These circumstances are applicable for clinicians in:

  • Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA)
  • Rural
  • Non-patient facing
  • Hospital-Based
  • Small Practices

For more information, please visit the CMS Quality Payment Program website.

Back to the top

The CAP wants to make sure that your practice understands and is ready to participate in the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The rules to participate in the MACRA program can be confusing, therefore the CAP created a short video: Making Sense of MACRA. It Pays to Be in the Know, to help explain what MACRA is, the requirements, and how the program will affect the practice of pathology.

The CAP has also developed a MACRA-readiness checklist for Pathologists to help pathologists successfully participate in the Quality Payment Program in 2017.You can use this checklist to improve your performance in Medicare's Quality Payment Program.

You can watch the video and download the checklist from the Quality Payment Program web page.

Back to the top

Reserve your seat at featured Advocacy Courses

Registration is now open for key CAP policy and advocacy courses and roundtable discussions important to the pathology specialty during CAP17 at the Gaylord National Harbor from October 8–11, 2017.

Learn about the new Pathologists Quality Registry and how it can help you comply with the Quality Payment Program in 2017 during the Optimize Your Medicare Bonus Potential with the Pathologists Quality Registry session on Monday, October 9.

Additional CAP advocacy courses and roundtable discussions are also available at CAP17:

  • M1596: How is My Payment Determined for Pathology Services?
  • R1690: My Surgical Pathology and Cytopathology Coding Dilemmas
  • R1691: Current Payment Policy Challenges in Pathology Practice
  • S1620: Medicare’s New Quality Payment Program and the Physician Fee Schedule

Check out the full list of Advocacy courses offered at CAP17.

Back to the top

Learn about the current trends in Pathology Practice and how it shapes CAP Advocacy efforts

Be the first to learn about results from CAP's 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey at CAP17's Exclusive: Results from the 2017 CAP Practice Characteristics Survey advocacy course. The course will be held on Tuesday, October 10, from 12:30–1:30 PM at CAP17. Taught by Michael B. Cohen, MD, FCAP, Chair of the CAP Policy Roundtable, and by David J. Gross, PhD, Director of the Policy Roundtable, the course will review the latest pathology demographic data, the different types of pathology services, the latest trends in compensation, and discuss what issues are most important to pathologists. Moreover, you will learn about how results from this year's survey compare to the 2017 Practice Characteristics Survey.

Registration is now open for key CAP policy and advocacy courses during CAP17 at the Gaylord National Harbor from October 8–11, 2017.

Back to the top

David Gang, MD, FCAP

No matter what kind of practice setting is in your future, health policy and payment models will impact you and your practice. On Wednesday, August 9 at 1 PM (ET), the CAP will host an Advocacy webinar on what residents need to know about reimbursement policies and how advocacy plays a vital role in your pathology practice livelihood.

During this 60-minute informative webinar, you will learn about the College of American Pathologists (CAP) advocacy and policy agenda, and how it directly impacts all residents and pathologists.

Kelsey McHugh, MD

Led by David Gang, MD, FCAP, Vice-Chair of the CAP’s Federal and State Affairs Committee, and Kelsey McHugh, MD, junior member of the CAP's Federal and State Affairs Committee, attendees will learn about health policy basics and the importance of getting involved in CAP initiatives that helps to advocate for patients.

Register today.

Back to the top

CAP Members from top to bottom, Joe Saad, MD, FCAP; David Gang, MD, FCAP; Robert P. DeCresce MD, FCAP; Patrick Godbey, MD, FCAP

Provider network adequacy and balance billing influence the market value of pathology services, regardless of whether a pathologist is an employee or an independent contractor. In recent years, state regulators have failed to ensure health plans maintain robust networks of physicians as insurers created narrow and "ultra-narrow" networks of providers. The CAP has strongly advocated for state regulators to protect patients from health plans with inadequate networks of pathologists and other hospital-based physicians.

During this 60-minute informative webinar on August 22, 2017, at 1 PM ET, you will learn more about the CAP's state advocacy strategy and how you can get involved.

Led by Joe Saad, MD, FCAP, Chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee (FSAC), David Gang, MD, FCAP, FSAC Vice-Chair, and Robert P. DeCresce MD, FCAP, FSAC Member, and moderated by Patrick Godbey, MD, FCAP, Chair of CAP Council on Government and Professional Affairs, CAP attendees will learn about network adequacy and balance billing issues facing pathologists and the financial impact on pathology practices.

Register today.

Back to the top

To Top