Please be aware of recalls of injectable heparin products and heparin flush solutions that may be contaminated with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS). Affected heparin products have been found in medical care facilities in one state since the recall announcement. Read More...

Congressmen Artur Davis (D-AL) and Jim Ramstad (R-MN) have asked their Democrat and Republican House colleagues to join with them in cosponsoring The Community Cancer Care Preservation Act of 2007 (H.R. 1190). Read More...

Senators Arlen Specter and Robert P. Casey, Jr. sent a letter to their fellow Senators to ask them to co-sponsor The Community Cancer Care Preservation Act of 2007 (S. 1750).  The Senators state that “ they understand firsthand the adverse impact that cuts to Medicare reimbursement are having on community cancer clinics in our state as well as others.”  You can help Senators Specter and Casey by sending an email to your Senators asking them to co-sponsor S. 1750.  Click on the Legislative Action Center on the lower red toolbar.   Click here to download a copy of the letter sent by Senators Specter and Casey.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The long-term financial health of the nation's two biggest entitlement programs improved slightly from a year ago because of higher expected immigration, but remains very fragile, according to the annual report released Tuesday by the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare programs. Read More...

The Medicare Trustees have issued another statutory “Medicare funding warning,” indicating that Federal general revenues are becoming a substantial share of total financing for Medicare. Read More...

 
If you want to correct the Medicare cuts to cancer care, and in the process relieve cuts being implemented by private payers following Medicare, please reach out to your Members of Congress now. Read More...
As the new President of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), I want to thank the COA Board of Directors for the privilege and opportunity to serve community oncology. Dr. Fred Schnell, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, has provided extraordinary leadership and vision for COA as President during the past eighteen months. I will do my best to continue that legacy. Read More...
As the end of 2007 is near, and Congress prepares to recess until mid-January of 2008, there are three important issues under consideration by Congress. Read More...
Everyone should be aware by now that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just recently approved new, revised labeling for Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agents (ESAs). This revised labeling includes warnings about potential risks of using ESAs when hemoglobin levels are ≥12 g/dL. However, the FDA clearly is allowing physicians to exercise their clinical judgment in using ESAs, especially at hemoglobin levels of ≥10 g/dL but <12 g/dL. This is in sharp contrast to the National Coverage Determination (NCD) on ESAs that severely hinders physicians from exercising clinical judgment in treating their senior cancer patients covered by Medicare. Read More...
As President of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), I want to encourage all of community oncology to be fully engaged with their members of Congress during these next very critical weeks. Last week, I was in Washington, DC with my COA colleagues and our lobbying team and would like to make a few observations that I hope will underscore the need to be involved. Read More...

 
 
Ah, the rites of spring! Baseball, cherry blossoms and the annual report of the Medicare trustees, who duly report that Medicare is going broke. Yet each year we have the routine response of politicians and pundits who wring their hands about the unsustainable rate of growth in health care expenditures. Read More...
It's a mantra for presidential candidates this year: "Prevention" is a key to saving health-care dollars. Read More...
The nonprofit University of Pittsburgh Medical Center -- a profit machine in recent years -- did something rare during the first nine months of fiscal 2008. Read More...
Medicare is far and away the biggest health insurer. So Medicare decisions about how doctors and hospitals get paid influence care. Read this article, written by my colleague Dr. Howard LeWine, and then check out my take on this matter by reading my comments at the end of the article, which are in bold. Read More...
Edie Gieg, 85, strides ahead of people half her age and plays a fast-paced game of tennis. But when it comes to health care, she is a champion of “slow medicine,” an approach that encourages less aggressive — and less costly — care at the end of life. Read More...

 
4/30/2008 - 2008 PQRI Slide Deck
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Provider Communications Group hosted the second in a series of national provider conference calls on the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. Read More...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced steps it is taking to encourage physicians and other eligible professionals to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) Read More...
The CMS Online Manual System: A Web-based Manual System for Medicare Contractors, Providers and State Agencies brochure has been updated and is now available.

Download a copy of the CMS Online Manual System. Click here..
Medicare Program: Proposed Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2009 Rates; Proposed Changes to Disclosure of Physician Ownership in Hospitals and Physician Self-Referral Rules; Proposed Collection of Information Regarding Financial Relationships Between Hospitals and Physicians

Download a copy of the proposed Medicare changes. Click here..
Topics address issues with chemotherapy and demonstration project billing Read More...

 

Click here to view a copy of the request.
On behalf of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), I want to thank you for introducing HR 5704, The Access to Medicare Imaging Act. Read More...
Click here to download a copy of the COA final comments on CAP.
Click here to download a copy of the COA comments on CAP.
Click here to a Summary of the Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP) prepared by the the Community Oncology Alliance (COA). It contains a brief overview of CAP and a summary list of the things community cancer clinics would be required to do under CAP. Click here to download a detailed Q&A of the CAP program. This Q&A includes important questions and answers for the community cancer clinic considering CAP. Most critical is the list provided in this document of the questions community cancer clinics need to ask in considering CAP enrollment.

Announcing the COA Practice Information Exchange (PIE)The COA PIE will enable practices to log in and exchange ideas, stories, and documents regarding the recent changes in reimbursement laws.  Click here to begin.
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