August Practice Update (part two)
ASH Comments on Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Changes
On August 20, ASH submitted comments on proposed revisions to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Read more.
ASH Comments on Proposed Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System Changes
On August 27, ASH submitted comments on proposed revisions to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System. Read more.
ASH Recommends Changes to ICD-9 Codes for MDS
ASH submitted recommendations to the National Center for Health Statistics asking for an editorial change to the ICD-9 codes 238.72 – Low grade myelodysplastic syndrome lesions and 238.73 – High grade myelodysplastic syndrome lesions. Read more.
FDA Approves Romiplostim for the Treatment of Thrombocytopenia in Patients With Chronic ITP
On August 22, 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved romiplostim for subcutaneous injection (Nplate™, Amgen Inc.) for the treatment of thrombocytopenia in patients with chronic immune (idiopathic) thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) who have had an insufficient response to corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, or splenectomy. The full version of the FDA Announcement is available online.
Comparative Effectiveness Research Act Introduced in the Senate
Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) have introduced the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2008 (S.3408). The legislation aims to establish a Health Care Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute. Read more.
CMS Releases Guide to Medicare Coverage, Coding, Payment
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published a guide to Medicare coverage, coding, and payment issued. The Innovator's Guide to Navigating CMS provides a roadmap to Medicare coverage, coding, and payment.
Information Available for Receiving PQRI Feedback Reports
Two MLN Matters articles on accessing the reports are now available that can assist individual eligible professionals and group practices that reported valid 2007 PQRI quality measures data to Medicare. The articles are available on the CMS Web site, and can be reached using the links below:
Additional educational resources and information about the PQRI program are available on the PQRI pages of the CMS and ASH Web sites.
Blood Moves to Weekly Publication in 2009
Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology, will change from a semimonthly to weekly schedule effective with the January 1, 2009, issue.
The shift of the journal to weekly publication was stimulated by a number of factors, including advertising sales and the move to weekly publication schedule by comparable sub-specialty journals. The schedule change will provide several key benefits for members and subscribers, including increased portability of the print journal due to more convenient size, greater visibility for ongoing and new content features, and increased traffic to the journal's Web site based on distribution of a weekly e-Table of Contents.
For more information, please contact publishing@hematology.org.
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