02/19/2019

CMS-Medicare

Recent Oncology Related Articles

New Medicare Card: 0 not O

The Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) uses numbers 0-9 and all uppercase letters except for S, L, O, I, B, and Z. We exclude these letters to avoid confusion when differentiating some letters and numbers (e.g., between “0” and “O”). Read MLN Matters® Article New MBI Get It, Use It for other helpful information, such as what to do if an MBI changes.

Open Payments: Transparency and You Call — March 13

Wednesday, March 13 from 1 to 2 pm ET

Register for Medicare Learning Network events.

Reporting entities are submitting data to the Open Payments system on payments or transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals during 2018. Beginning in April, physicians and teaching hospitals have 45 days to review and dispute records attributed to them. During this call, find out how to access the Open Payments system to review the accuracy of the data submitted about you before it is published on the CMS website. A question and answer session follows the presentation.

See the Open Payments Registration webpage for more information. CMS will publish the 2018 payment data and updates to the 2013 through 2016 data by June 30, 2019.

Topics:

• Overview of the Open Payments national transparency program
• Program timeline
• Registration process
• Critical deadlines for physicians and teaching hospitals to review and dispute data

Target Audience: Physicians, teaching hospitals, and physician office staff.

CLIA Program and Medicare Laboratory Services Fact Sheet— Revised

A revised CLIA Program and Medicare Laboratory Services Fact Sheet is available. Learn about:

• How to enroll in the Program
• Types of laboratory certificates
• Test method categorization

Medicare Advance Written Notices of Noncoverage Booklet— Revised

A revised Medicare Advance Written Notices of Noncoverage Booklet is available. Learn about:

• Financial liability
• How to issue and complete the forms
• Guidelines for collecting beneficiary payment

Medicare Parts A & B Appeals Process Booklet— Revised

A revised Medicare Parts A & B Appeals Process Booklet is available. Learn about:

• Tips for filing
• The five levels of appeals
• Appointing a representative

Quality Payment Program: Overview of APMs for Year 3 Webinar — February 21

Thursday, February 21 from 2 to 3 pm ET

Register for this webinar.

This webinar provides a basic overview of Alternative Payment Models (APMs) for the 2019 Performance Year of the Quality Payment Program. Learn how to get started in an APM. Topics:

• Advanced APMs, Merit-Based Incentive Payment System APMs, and all-payer other payer combination options
• Qualifying APM participant determination and performance period
• Scoring standard
• Support

QPP Videos: MIPS Data Submission

Learn how to manage and submit your 2018 Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) data through the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website by April 2 by viewing these brief videos:

• Uploading Files for Data Submission
• Reviewing Overview Data
• Reviewing Quality Category Data
• Reviewing Promoting Interoperability Category Data
• Reviewing Improvement Activities Category Data
• Manual Attestation of the Promoting Interoperability Category
• Manual Attestation of the Improvement Activities Category
• Deleting Submitted Data in the System
• Reviewing and Submitting Data as a Registry
• Navigation to Individual and Group Submission

For More Information:

• Resource Library webpage
• 2018 Data Submission FAQs
• QPP Access User Guide

Quality Payment Program: 2019 Resources

CMS posted new resources to help you prepare for the 2019 performance year of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS):

• Medicare Part B Claims Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents: Descriptions of the claims measures for the Quality performance category
• Clinical Quality Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents: Descriptions of the clinical quality measures for the Quality performance category
• CMS Web Interface Measure Specifications and Supporting Documents: Descriptions of the CMS Web Interface measures for the Quality performance category
• Cross-Cutting Quality Measures: List of cross-cutting Quality measures that are broadly applicable to all clinicians regardless of their specialty
• Quality Measure Benchmarks: Lists and explains benchmarks used to assess performance in the
  Quality performance category
• Promoting Interoperability Measure Specifications: Overview of the requirements for the Promoting Interoperability performance category objectives and measures
• Cost Measure Code Lists: Details the cost measure code lists for each of the 8 episode-based cost measures that are new for the Cost performance category
• Cost Measure Information Forms: Details the measure methodology for each episode-based measure for the Cost performance category
• MIPS: Summary of Cost Measures: Summary of cost measures
• Improvement Activities Inventory: List of the improvement activities and descriptions
• Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QCDRs) and Qualified Registries Qualified Postings: List of CMSapproved QCDRs and Qualified Registries and the performance categories and measures they support
• MIPS Participation and Eligibility Fact Sheet: Overview of the eligibility criteria
• Quality Performance Category Fact Sheet: Includes an overview of quality measures and how to collect and submit quality data
• Cost Performance Category Fact Sheet: Includes details on the episode-based measures

For More Information:

• Resource Library webpage
• Quality Payment Program website
• Reach out to your local technical assistance organization
• Contact QPP@cms.hhs.gov or 866-288-8292 (TTY: 877-715-6222)

Quality Payment Program: Webinar Library

CMS moved Quality Payment Program (QPP) webinar resources to the newly redesigned QPP Webinar Library webpage. Search for the webinars and accompanying recordings, transcripts, and presentation slides by performance year, reporting track, performance category, and webinar type. For questions, contact QPP@cms.hhs.gov or 866-288-8292 (TTY: 877-715-6222). 

Recent LearnResource & MedLearn Matters Articles

• International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD10) and Other Coding Revisions to National Coverage Determination (NCDs) (MM 11134) 
• Quarterly Update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Database (MPFSDB) - April 2019 Update (MM 11163)