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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.
February 28, 2017
March
is the
best month
to hire a new physician. 2016
clinical rotations
are ending. And summer is beginning! You have a
650%
better chance of hiring a young doctor or experienced physician in
March or April
than any other month this year.
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California News
- The California Dialogue on Cancer is pleased to announce the American Cancer Society's upcoming 80% by 2018 California Colorectal Cancer Roundtable events in Sunnyvale on March 21st and Los Angeles on March 22nd. The featured speaker for the Roundtables will be Richard Wender, MD, Chief Cancer Control Officer of the American Cancer Society. These events will be an opportunity to connect with different groups (community clinics, health plans, companies, hospitals, and community members) who are working toward our collective goal of 80% nationwide screening for adults aged 50+ by 2018. Participation is free. Please register by March 10th. For more information, click on the following links.
- The Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange invites you to attend: Primary Care and Oncology: Practical Lessons, An Advanced Practice Clinician (Mid-Level) Symposium. This one-day event will be held on April 27th, in Southern California. Pre-registration is required, as seating is limited. CEU's/CME's will be provided. Breakfast and lunch will be included. For more information on the symposium, see the flyer below, or click here to register.
- The California End of Life Option Act is a law that went into effect in June of 2016. This new law allows some patients with terminal diagnosis to receive an aid-in-dying prescription from their physician much like in other states such as Oregon and Washington. In these states, 70-80% of patients who select this option at end of life have cancer. The Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology is presenting, California End of Life Option Act: Hoping for the Best, Planning for the Worst and Knowing Your Options, to be held on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, in Los Angeles. The March 14th lecture will also be available via live-streaming from your computer. In this seminar, the law will be presented, along with what is known about its implementation to date, and considerations for patients and families facing this choice. For more information about this lecture, as well others in the series (including an on-line archive of previous presentations) click here. To access the lecture on March 14th via live-streaming, click here.
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- Noridian/JEMAC has posted the following updates to its website
* MLN Connects Provider News
Announcements--
Claims, Pricers, and Codes--
Events--
Publications--Medicare Home Health Benefit Booklet-Revised
* Medicare Outpatient Observation Notice (MOON) Instructions-Revised CR9935
* ICD-10 Coding Revisions to NCDs CR9861
*ICD-10 Coding Revisions to NCDs CR9982
is the 11th maintenance update of ICD-10 conversions and other coding updates specific to national coverage determinations (NCDs). Read the complete update
* MPFSDB-April 2017 Update CR9977
* Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule-Medicare Travel Allowance Fees for Collection of Specimens CR9960
* Updated Editing of Professional Therapy Services CR9933
- Forthcoming Noridian/JEMAC webinars
* Duplicate Claims Webinar (March 1)
* Screening Services Webinar (March 9)
- Noridian Medicare Portal Functionality Webinar for Part B Providers - March 23, 2017
The Noridian Provider Outreach and Education (POE) staff is hosting a Noridian Medicare Portal Functionality for Part B Providers webinar on March 23, 2017 at Noon Pacific Time. Read the complete update.
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- The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), Medi-Cal Benefits Division, Cancer Detection and Treatment Branch (CDTB), is soliciting input from interested parties regarding the Prostate Cancer Treatment Program (PCTP). This is not a solicitation for proposals. The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to elicit information for consideration regarding the future direction of the PCTP. DHCS may issue a future Request for Proposal (RFP) and use information from the RFI responses in its development. Responses to the RFI must be submitted by March 15, 2017. For more information, including instructions for responding to the RFI, the document can be downloaded here:
Prostate Cancer Treatment Program (PCTP) Request for Information
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- Join us for the 2017 MOASC Oncology Summit, on Saturday, March 11, 2017. Nationally known, and regionally based, key-opinion leaders to assess your tools for thriving in an era of Personalized Medicine! There's an Oncology Revolution going on: Are your treatment choices still relevant in the era of Immuno-oncology and Molecularly-targeted therapies? We will discuss how to use the new tools of "Personalized Medicine" to guide treatment choices for Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Multiple Myeloma. This will be a practically-oriented, clinically relevant discussion and you will leave with new insights into your own practice patterns and how to make sure you are embracing the future today! For complete information on this superb program, please contact the MOASC Office at 800-310-3553 x 1,
moasc@moasc.org
or
www.moasc.org
.
- The City of Hope conference,
How the Experts Treat Hematologic Malignancies
, will be March 16 - 18, 2017 at the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas. City of Hope experts will provide the conferee with the most recent advances in bone marrow transplant, multiple myeloma, lymphoma and leukemia. Updates on improved curative and palliative treatments and evolving molecular and immunologically-based system therapies, as well as important, completed or ongoing clinical trials, will be profiled and discussed. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Please register at one of the following: 626-218-5622 or CityofHope.org/cme
cme@coh.org
- 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,
http://pathology.uci.edu/hema-symposium/
- If you missed last Wednesday's MOASC LunchTime Series presentation of, "Physician in Transition, Six Timely Considerations for You & Your Practice," by Charles Denny, M.A., Charles Denny Consulting, a recording is available until March 24th. Toll free 888-203-1112, passcode 179 745 739, conference # 464 9227. Contact the MOASC Office for the slides at
moasc@moasc.org
or call 909-985-9061 x 1.
-
If you were unable to attend MOASC's "Spotlight on ASH" presented by UCI,
you can view the entire program here:
Spotlight on ASH 2017
.
MOASC would like to thank Alexion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Celgene, Gilead, Incyte, Merck, Pfizer, Pharmacyclics and Takeda, for their support!
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- 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
. REGISTRATION ENDS February 28 AND THIS MEETING SELLS OUT EVERY YEAR!
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- Members of both political parties introduced legislation in Congress last week calling for the repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a group of presidential appointees charged with making cuts to Medicare once the program reaches an arbitrary spending level, which experts agree will happen this year. To learn how you can add your voice and organizational support to IPAB opponents demanding repeal, register now for tomorrow's Webinar, Wednesday, March 1st (2pm ET/11amPacificTime). On the Webinar, groups representing patients, doctors, and hospitals will provide an update on where legislation stands in Congress and what 650+ groups, as part of the Protect My Doctor and Me initiative, are doing to make sure IPAB is repealed immediately. Speakers will share easily customizable materials to help organizations play an active role in safeguarding Medicare. Register today to learn more about how you can get involved. Please RSVP to Denton Baird at dbaird@MessagePartnersPR.com or 202-868-4833. Follow the group's efforts on Twitter at @MyDrAndMe.
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- CMS is replacing the "
Road to 10" and redirecting web traffic to www.cms.gov/ICD10 instead! This is due to CMS noting that web visits to the Road to dropped sharply after the October 2015 implementation of ICD-10 and users going to www.cms.gov instead of Road to 10. The www.cms.gov/ICD10 website is now the one-stop site for coders to obtain the official CMS ICD-10 resources. This page still has a link to the Road to 10, but only until April.
- AVOID 2018 MEDICARE PAYMENT ADJUSTMENTS! CMS has extended the deadline from February 28, 2017 to March 13, 2017 for the 2016 Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) data submission for the EHR reporting mechanism. This affects Individual eligible professionals (EPs), PQRS group practices, qualified clinical data registries (QCDRs), and qualified EHR data submission vendors (DSVs). EPs who do not satisfactorily report 2016 quality measure data to meet the PQRS requirements will be subject to a downward PQRS payment adjustment on all Medicare Part B Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) services rendered in 2018. A complete list of 2016 data submission timeframes is below:
March 13, 2017 deadlines:
EHR Direct or Data Submission Vendor (QRDA I or III) - 1/3/17 - 3/13/17
Qualified Clinical Data Registries (QRDA III) - 1/3/17 - 3/13/17
March 17, 2017 deadline:
Web Interface - 1/16/17 - 3/17/17
March 31, 2017 deadlines:
Qualified Registries (Registry XML) - 1/3/17 - 3/31/17
QCDRs (QCDR XML) - 1/3/17 - 3/31/17
Submission ends at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the end date listed. An Enterprise Identity Management (EIDM) account with the "Submitter Role" is required for these PQRS data submission methods.
Click Here to go to the CMS web site for more information.
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Affiliate Association News
- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is pleased to announce their upcoming Blood Cancer Conference in Anaheim on March 4, 2017. These educational conference has been developed to meet the needs of patients, survivors, caregivers and healthcare professionals. Conference attendees will receive the most current information and access to local resources to help navigate and make informed decisions about treatment and survival. The conference is free, but registration is required.
For more information and conference registration, go to:
Southern California, Blood Cancer Conference, March 4, 2017
.
1)The packed agenda covers the timeliest topics in today's community oncology landscape;
2)Hear from national oncology leaders including Skip Burris, MD, Daniel George, MD, and Kavita Patel, MD. The keynote speaker is figure skater and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton;
3)Hear firsthand from national and regional payers, employers, and coalitions as they discuss the latest efforts they are engaged in to move cancer care payment reform forward. The 2017 Conference will feature the sixth Payer Exchange Summit;
4)With a record-setting 1,200+ in attendance, the opportunities to network with physicians, practice administrators, pharmacists, nurses, and thought-leaders in community oncology are unsurpassed.
- Applications are now being accepted for ASCO's Quality Training Program at
www.asco.org/training-education/professional-development/quality-training-program. This comprehensive 6-month program is oncology-focused and teaches clinicians how to improve quality using evidence-based decisions and how to reduce clinical and process variation for predictable and sustainable results. In 2017, there will be two regional locations, including Portland, OR (Session 1: April 20-21; Session 2: June 28-29; and Session 3: October 18).
- The COPA website has the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC) webinar from last Thursday, for those that missed it. COPA will keep it up on the website on the home page of COPA at www.coapharmacy.com and on the accreditation page http://www.coapharmacy.com/achc-accreditation/ for future reference. If you have any other questions after watching this, please email Ricky Newton rnewton@COAcancer.org, and he will get you answers.
- The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the College of Pathologists (CAP), the Association forMolecular Pathology (AMP), and ASCO have collaborated to develop the Molecular Biomarkers for the Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer guideline. The guideline addresses testing a wide range of molecular biomarkers in patients with early and advanced colorectal cancer and will help to establish standard molecular biomarker testing, guide targeted therapy decisions, and advance personalized care for patients with colorectal cancer. Read the guideline at http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2016.71.9807.
- A new ASCO Special Article in the Journal of Oncology Practice highlights a joint National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and ASCO workshop on the safe handling of hazardous drugs. Read the article at
- ASCO's Criteria for High-Quality Clinical Pathways in Oncology, a set of 15 inter-related criteria that provide an overarching framework for assessing pathway programs in the United States, are featured as a special article in the Journal of Oncology Practice at
- CancerLinQ and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) are partnering to bring radiation oncology expertise to CancerLinQ and improve the care of cancer patients nationwide. ASTRO will provide guidance for the development of the CancerLinQ platform to ensure that the system captures more relevant data to drive actionable decision-making in cancer care, as well as to advance public policy and population health issues. ASTRO will also use insights from CancerLinQ Discovery to improve the care of patients receiving radiation therapy. For more information, visit
www.asco.org/advocacy-policy/asco-in-action/cancerlina-partners-premier-radiation-oncology-society.
- A new White Paper by the law firm of Frier Levitt, LLC and commissioned by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) examines the ongoing practice by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to increase corporate profits through murky "direct and indirect remuneration" fees-commonly known as "DIR Fees" charged to community oncology practices, as well as retail and specialty pharmacies ("Pharmacy Providers"). DIR Fees, which have no basis in regulation or law, artificially inflate the costs paid by Medicare beneficiaries for prescription drugs, pushing them into the Medicare Part D "donut hole" faster, fueling rising drug prices, and ultimately adding to the burden on taxpayers. PBMs must report all discounts given after the drugs are sold to CMS. These are called "Direct and Indirect Remuneration" or "DIR." PBMs often receive additional discounts from manufacturers after the initial sale of drugs to patients. DIR Fact Sheet.
- COA would like for you to please read the article below from the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA). They have been fighting this battle on DIR fees for some time as COA had discussed last year. It is quite supportive of the COA position on DIR fees since they also share the same points brought out in the COA white paper. Ricky Newton rnewton@COAcancer.org is asking if you know any of the officers on the board of NCPA, or are any of your staff members of NCPA? He would like to reach out to them about collaborating with their organization on the DIR issues the same way COA is with NASP. Thank you for your assistance.
- COA is seeking your feedback regarding difficulty obtaining Cost Exceed overrides with Optum Rx Insurance.
It appears the new year brought a change whereby all override requests can only be obtained through Briova Specialty Pharmacy. OptumRx would not authorize an override because the patient is not registered in their system, and only the patient can register themselves. OptumRx would not allow the physician practice to register on behalf of the patient. The time lapse of more than 24 hours to obtain an override requires repeated calls to OptumRx. OptumRx would question the physician's office for filling the medication, and continuously tries to take over the prescription to fill at OptumRx's location, even after being informed that the drug is being filled at the physician dispensary. If you are experiencing similar issues with any payer, please communicate with the MOASC Office your specific issue at moasc@moasc.org. Thanks!
- ASCO and NCCN have announced that they plan to jointly collaborate to publish practical clinical guidelines on the management of side effects of immunotherapy. Working together, each organization will use its standard methodology to develop and publish clinical practice guidelines under the lead of a multidisciplinary expert panel. At time of completion, two separate guidelines will be published: ASCO systemic review-based guidelines and NCCN algorithmic guidelines. These guidelines are expected later this year.
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NCCN has published updated NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®)
with NCCN Evidence Blocks™ for antiemesis (V1.2017); B-cell lymphomas (V2.2017); chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic leukemia (V2.2017); hairy cell leukemia (V2.2017); kidney cancer (V2.2017); neuroendocrine tumors (V1.2017); occult primary (cancer of unknown primary, chemotherapy order templates); prevention and treatment of cancer-related infections (V2.2017); prostate cancer (V2.2017); systemic light chain amyloidosis;
Acute Myeloid Leukemia (V1.2017) and
, T-cell lymphomas (V2.2017). 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
www.nccn.org
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- Celgene informs ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Revlimid as maintenance therapy for patients with multiple myeloma following autologous stem cell transplant.
- Janssen Biotech is hosting an educational program entitled Darzalex-based Triplet Therapy for Multiple Myeloma Patients at First Relapse with Amy Marsala, N.P., UC San Francisco, on March 17 at Morimoto, 610 Main Street, Napa. RSVP at
www.medforcereg.net/SOMP1085229
.
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| MOASC CALENDAR
Spotlight on ASH
February 11, 2017
LunchTime Series
February 22, 2017
Oncology Summit
March 11, 2017
NCCN Meeting in Florida
March 23-25, 2017
COA Annual Meeting
April 27-28, 2017
ASCO National Meeting in Chicago
June 2-6, 2017
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(NCCN, San Francisco, March 11)
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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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