The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed payment policy for the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for calendar year (CY) 2020 on July 29, 2019. Keep in mind that the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is currently digging through the proposed…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposal for the calendar year (CY) 2020 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) on July 29, 2019. The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) will provide a lengthy summary of the proposal and a response in the near future. In the meantime, TOA has provided a summary…
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The 2019 Texas Legislature followed the lead of the New York Legislature by addressing surprise bills through an arbitration process that takes patients out of the middle by giving physicians an opportunity to challenge out-of-network payments made by commercial health insurance plans through an arbitration process. The New York system has worked. Click here to learn…
TOA takes three orthopaedic residents to Washington, DC every June to visit with lawmakers about musculoskeletal issues that affect Texas patients. TOA’s goal is to introduce advocacy issues to residents at an early age. Jordan Handcox, MD of San Antonio, Dylan Homen, MD of Lubbock and Max Danilevich, MD of Galveston were the three residents…
The prescription monitoring program (PMP) is an important tool for physicians and pharmacists to deter some forms of “doctor shopping” for the illegal or inappropriate use of prescription drugs. TOA worked with lawmakers in the 2019 Texas Legislature to: Secure funding for the Texas State Board of Pharmacy (TSPB) to acquire licenses so that the…
The Texas Orthopaedic Association (TOA) strongly supports the prior authorization and utilization review proposals that were added to SB 1742 in the 2019 Texas Legislature. SB 1742 is now waiting for Governor Abbott’s consideration. Click here to learn more.
The Texas Orthopaedic Association (TOA) recently offered its support for HB 3284, which passed out of the 2019 Texas Legislature. The bill, which is authored by Rep. JD Sheffield, DO and Sen. Jane Nelson, would delay the state’s prescription monitoring program (PMP) mandate by several months to ensure that physicians’ electronic health record (EHR) programs…
Over a dozen Texas orthopaedic surgeons will visit Capitol Hill on June 6 to discuss issues related to out-of-network balance billing, hospital monopolies, and antitrust regulations related to commercial health insurance plans. The orthopaedic surgeons will discuss initiatives that can lower health care costs for patients. The Texas Orthopaedic Association (TOA) will sponsor four orthopaedic…
TOA recently sat down with Austin orthopaedic surgeon Austin Hill, MD, MPH of the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas to discuss the orthopaedic trauma department’s experience with scooter injuries in Austin. TOA: What were your thoughts when the scooters first went live and you first started seeing injuries? Austin Hill: The first…
