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California Oncology Weekly
"Where California Oncologists Go For Answers!"
A collaborative publication of the
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California, Inc.
and the
Association of Northern California Oncologists, Inc.
November 29, 2016
Join the movement and give back to a charity of your choice.
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California News
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- The California Dialogue on Cancer (CDOC) announces the upcoming webinar:
Tobacco Cessation in Cancer Prevention and Treatment: A Call to Action for California Cancer Centers
, Wednesday, December 7th, 12:00pm to 1 pm. This webinar will be presented by Elisa Tong, MD, from the University of California Davis, along with California's Comprehensive Cancer Control Program Director, Shauntay Davis, MPH. They will be discussing the tobacco cessation resource document developed by CDOC's Tobacco Stakeholder Advisory Group. This webinar is being hosted by the California Smokers' Helpline and its training and technical assistance arm, the Center for Tobacco Cessation. Further details on the webinar are provided below. The Tobacco Cessation document can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/CDOC_CalltoAction
- CMA & AMA are co-hosting an educational seminar on MACRA in San Francisco on Saturday, Dec 10th at 9:00 - 11:00am. There is no cost to attend this seminar. As CMS recently issued a final rule outlining the requirements of the new Quality Payment Program (QPP) for physicians that was created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), the AMA in conjunction with California Medical Association and several component societies within the bay area region will be offering an upcoming educational session to help physicians understand what the MACRA final rule means for their practice and what they need to do as part of the QPP. If you are unable to attend in person it will also be available to stream online or via webinar. Register and learn more. Here is the link to the AMA's original fact sheet.
Upcoming MACRA Sessions.
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Noridian News
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- Last week's California Oncology Weekly shared that Noridian would like to solicit your assistance in shaping their customer service offerings - now and into the future - and are hoping you will help them. They want to hear from providers if their current offerings are meeting the needs of the provider community and, importantly, would like to hear your ideas on how they can continue to meet those needs into the future. Please complete the charts below by sharing details regarding Noridian's current offerings and let them know if they are useful. Also, looking into future years, what would you support using to best communicate with Noridian? Please reply by December 8, to Wade Carlin
Wade.Carlin@noridian.com
, Provider Outreach and Education Representative, Noridian Healthcare Solutions LLC, Fargo, N.D. Thank you.
Current Offerings
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Offering Method
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What works great, what needs to be added or improved?
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Noridian Medicare Portal
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Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
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Contact Center staff
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Email Lists
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Educational Events (webinars, in-person events/visits, Ask the Contractor Teleconferences)
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External Partnerships and Associations
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Postal Mailings (postcards, booklets)
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Tutorials / Online training videos
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Other
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Future - Identify new methods to provide useful information
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Social Media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
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Smart Phone applications and downloaded tools
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Skyping or Virtual Conversations (without PII or PHI)
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Live Chat instant messaging
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Secure messaging through the portal
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Other
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* MLN Connects Provider News
Announcements--2017 PQRS Results: Submit an Informal Review by November 30; Value Modifier: Informal Review Request Period Open through November 30; New Quality Payment Program Resources Available
Claims, Pricers, and Codes
--
Events
--CMS 2016 Quality Conference-December 13-15
Publications
--Evaluation and Management Services Guide-Reminder; Medicare Claim Review Programs Booklet-Revised; Hospice Payment System Booklet-Reminder
* 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Now Available
* Coding Revisions to NCDs-Revised CR9751
* Changes to the Laboratory NCD Edit Software for January 2017-Revised CR9806
* Provider Enrollment Requirements for Writing Prescriptions for Medicare Part D Drugs-Fourth Revision SE1434
* Claim Status Category and Claim Status Codes Update CR9769
* Immune Globulin Intravenous (IVIg) LCD-R6
* Office of Inspector General Report: Stem Cell Transplantation SE1624
-"Outpatient Drugs Administration Orders"
policy has been revised since being published in April 2016, to update the second sentence regarding physician signature documentation. Coverage for outpatient drugs requires that documentation must support that services were properly authenticated or intended by the physician. When a physician order is not signed, the physician must clearly document in the medical record his or her intent that the service or test be performed. View the "Outpatient Drugs Administration Orders" section of the newly created "Browse by Topic" Drugs, Biologicals and Injections webpage for a listing of practitioners who may sign orders.
- A new code (POS 02) for Telehealth services, effective January 1, 2017.
Read the complete update
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- The 2nd Annual UC Irvine Health Hematology Symposium, presented by the Department of Pathology and the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, will take place on Saturday, March 25, 2017, at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel, Anaheim, CA.
Topics will include:
* Molecular diagnostics in selected disorders
* Myelodysplastic syndrome
* Primer on flow cytometry for the general practitioner
* Venous thromboembolism
* Approach to the evaluation of anemia
* Selected vector-borne diseases
* Lupus anticoagulant and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.
For registration or more information please contact Dannielle Lampkin at
dlampkin@uci.edu
or 714-456-8621 or visit the Hematology Symposium registration website,
- MOASC is proud to present their 2017 Oncology Summit: How Personalized Medicine fits into your treatment pattern for Lung cancer, Prostate cancer and Multiple Myeloma. Saturday, March 11, 2017, 7:30am to 3:30pm at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. The confirmed speakers for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer are: Edward Garon, MD, Associate Professor Medical Oncology, UCLA and Karen Reckamp, MD, MS, Associate Professor Medical Oncology, City of Hope; for Prostate Cancer, Przemyslaw Twardowski, MD, Associate Professor Medical Oncology, City of Hope and David I Quinn, MD, Associate Professor Medical Oncology, USC, and for Multiple Myeloma, James R. Berenson, MD, and Amrita Krishnan, MD, FACP,
Director, Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Myeloma, City of Hope.
For complete information on this superb program, please contact the MOASC Office at 909-985-9061 ext.1 or
moasc@moasc.org
or
www.moasc.org
.
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- ANCO's Medicare Reimbursement for Oncology 2017 with Bobbi Buell takes place January 4 in San Jose and January 5 in Sacramento. Learn the latest information impacting Medicare's oncology reimbursement for 2017. These meetings are supported by ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Exelixis, Helsinn Oncology, and Merck. Download the meeting announcement and registration form at www.anco-online.org/MedicareUpdate2017.pdf.
- ANCO's SABCS Highlights 2016 will take place on January 26 at The Claremont Resort in Oakland. Download the meeting announcement and registration form at www.anco-online.org/SABCSHL2016.pdf.
- ANCO is pleased to announce the 17th Multidisciplinary Management of Cancers: A Case-based Approach on March 17-19, 2017 at The Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa. Registration and housing now open at www.multicancers.org.
- UC San Francisco's Thomas Martin, M.D., will present Back to Basics: Tenets of Testing in Myeloma Diagnostics--A Webinar with Live Q&A on December 12. The webinars are organized by MediCom Worldwide. Go to http://forms.medicaled.com/zstdeXWy for more information and to register.
- ASCO has announced its roster of candidates for open leadership positions. Amongst the candidates are two ANCO members--Eric Small, MD, UCSF, and A. Dimitrios Colevas, MD, Stanford University. ASCO members will be able to vote for their chosen leaders through December 2, 2016. Go to www.asco.org/election for more information.
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National News
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- President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to nominate Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for Secretary of Health and Human Services, choosing a fierce ACA critic who has drafted a detailed replacement plan for the law. Trump also named Seema Verma, an Indiana health policy consultant, as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
- The House is set to vote tomorrow, Wednesday, on the 21st Century Cures Act, a $6.3 billion medical innovation bill that will provide funding for the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and for states addressing the opioid crisis. But Senate Democrats are still negotiating what Republican leaders have called the final version of the legislation. House and Senate leaders announced late Friday night that they had finally hammered out a deal on landmark legislation designed to speed federal approval of new drugs and devices and boost funding of medical research. But what Republican lawmakers call the "final" version of the 21st Century Cures Act is actually still in negotiation with Senate Democrats, a Senate health committee senior aide said on Sunday.
- On November 22, 2016, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas halted implementation the Department of Labor's rule that amended the salary basis test for overtime exemptions in the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") that was scheduled to take effect December 1, 2016. A preliminary injunction was granted by the court which preserves the status quo and temporarily delays the implementation of the new rule while the court determines the department's authority to make the final rule as well as the final rule's validity.
At this point, the new overtime rule will not take effect on December 1, 2016 as planned so employers may continue to follow the existing overtime regulations. The FLSA Overtime Rule could still be implemented at some point in the future. The preliminary injunction simply puts everything on hold until the court has time to review the merits of the case. Though the ruling was made in the federal court in Texas, the judge ruled that the injunction would be applied nationwide to avoid any confusion amongst employers that have locations in multiple states in order to avoid different exemptions and rules based on location.
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- In 2017, CMS will apply a downward payment adjustment to those who did not satisfactorily report PQRS in 2015. If you have any questions regarding the status of your 2015 PQRS reporting or are concerned about potentially receiving the PQRS downward payment adjustment in 2017, please do not hesitate to submit an informal review request. CMS will be in contact with every individual EP or PQRS group practice that submits a request for an informal review of their 2015 PQRS data. If you believe you have been incorrectly assessed the 2017 PQRS payment adjustment, submit an informal review between September 26, 2016 and November 30, 2016 requesting CMS investigate your payment adjustment determination. All informal review requestors will be notified via email of a final decision by CMS within 90 days of the original request for an informal review. All decisions will be final and there will be no further review.
Go to the
Quality Reporting Communication Support Page (CSP)
In the upper left-hand corner of the page, under "Related Links," select "Communication Support Page," Select "Informal Review Request," Select "PQRS Informal Review."
- CMS posted the final Measures under Consideration List on the CMS website and has sent them to NQF in preparation for this multi-stakeholder input. They can be found on the CMS website, at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/QualityMeasures/Pre-Rule-Making.html and on the National Quality Forum's (NQF) website, at http://www.qualityforum.org/measures_reports_tools.aspx. This year's MUC list contains 97 measures that have the potential to drive improvement in quality across numerous settings of care. CMS is considering new measures for nursing homes, hospitals, clinician practices, and dialysis facilities, among other settings, and continues to focus on important measures of patient outcomes, appropriate use of diagnostics and services, cost, and patient safety. This year, 39 percent of measures on the Measures under Consideration List are outcome measures, and an increased number of measures were submitted for consideration by specialty societies. CMS is committed to working with specialty societies and other stakeholders on the development and use of measures that are most meaningful to patients and clinicians for our programs.
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Affiliate Association News
- TOMORROW: The California Chronic Care Coalition invites you to join in a multi-state collaborative and thoughtful discussion on access to healthcare under the Trump Administration. Election 2016: Health Care and the Future of the Affordable Care Act, Wednesday, November 30, 2016, 9:30 AM PDT/10:30 AM Mountain/11:30 AM Central/12:30 PM Eastern To Register and Attend Click Here
- HONORARIUM will be provided at the upcoming ASH Conference in San Diego by Targeted Oncology Case Based Peer Perspectives. Targeted Oncology would like to invite you to participate in one of the below meetings. Please register now as attendance is limitedwww.targetedonc.com/events. Enjoy dinner as experts discuss pathology report findings, the patient's diagnostic workup, the most likely diagnosis, and potential treatment options. 12/2/2016, 7:00PM: Multicentric Castlemans Disease Dr. David Fajgenbaum: Ostera the Fish House. 12/2/16, 7:00PM: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Dr. Paul Barr: The SearSucker Restaurant. 12/3/16, 7:30PM Multiple Myeloma Dr. Christina Gasparetto: Manchester Grand Hyatt. 12/4/16, 7:00PM Polycythemia Vera Dr. Harry Erba: Chianti Restaurant. 12/5/16, 7:00PM Multiple Myeloma Dr. Ola Landgren: Bice Restaurant. Please feel free to emailjdouglass@onclive.comor call (609) 716-7777 with any questions.
- ASCO is accepting applications for its prestigious Health Policy Fellowship, a one-year Fellowship opportunity designed to give early-career oncologists the unique skills necessary to monitor and shape the regulatory and legislative policies that directly affect the practice environment and impact patients with cancer and their care teams. The deadline for submitting applications is December 30 at
www.asco.org/node/7556.
- ASCO and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) have updated their chemotherapy administration safety standards to include pediatric oncology care. The updated standards can be found in the Journal of Oncology Practice (at
http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JOP.2016.017905)
- ASH's 2017 Highlights of ASH in North America will take place in Seattle on January 27-28. Go to
www.hematology.org/highlights for more information and to register.
- A collaboration between ASCO and the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) enables participants of ACSO's Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) to receive Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Practice Assessment points from ABIM. For more information on ABIM MOC, eligibility, and requirements, please visit
http://university.asco.org/practice-assessment-activities.
- NCCN has published updated NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®) with NCCN Evidence Blocks™ for uterine neoplasms (V1.2017), vulvar cancer (V1.2017). For the complete updated versions of the NCCN Guidelines, NCCN Guidelines with NCCN Evidence Blocks™, the NCCN Compendium®, the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates (NCCN Templates®), and the NCCN Imaging Appropriate Use Criteria (NCCN Imaging AUC™), please visit
NCCN.org.
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- Abbvie informs ANCO & MOASC of a Venclexta speaker program coming up, THIS SATURDAY, in San Diego during ASH. Saturday, December 3rd at 6:00pm at Morton's Steakhouse, downtown San Diego. Click here for particulars.
- Janssen Biotech informs ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Darzalex in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone, or bortezomib and dexamethasone, for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy.
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MOASC CALENDAR
LunchTime Series
Oncology Roundtable Teleconference
ASCO State Affiliate
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The
Medical Oncology Association of Southern California
(MOASC) is a leading oncology society that advances and protects the ability of cancer patients to obtain, and the ability of the oncology physicians to provide, optimal cancer care. The
Association of Northern California Oncologists
(ANCO) is an association of hematologists/oncologists dedicated to promoting high professional standards of cancer care by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, data, and knowledge.
The material contained in the
California Oncology Weekly
is intended as general information for ANCO and MOASC members. Because diagnostic, treatment, contracting, coding, and billing decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, any such information contained in the
California Oncology Weekly
may not apply in any given situation. Members are encouraged to contact their own consultants or advisors to obtain specific advice on matters relating to contracting, coding, and billing. The information contained in
California Oncology Weekly
should not be used as a substitute for such advice.
This publication provides a summary of regulations affecting oncology and its business practices. Reading this newsletter does not substitute for understanding regulations and verifying the validity of every claim. This information is time-sensitive and is subject to change. MOASC or ANCO accepts no liability for any statements or articles herein.
CPT codes are owned and trademarked by the American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
MOASC: P.O. Box 161, Upland, CA 91785 | P (909) 985-9061 | F (909) 804-5006| www.moasc.org
ANCO: P.O. Box 151109, San Rafael, CA 94915 | P (415) 472-3960 | F (415) 472-3961 | www.anco-online.org
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