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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.
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This Weekly's Hot Topics
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- How California Physicians Can Access Free Technical Assistance for MACRA Transition California News
- CMS is reviewing claims and letting practices know which clinicians need to take part in MIPS.Noridian News
- VOTE Barbara McAneny, M.D., for President-Elect of the AMA. ANCO News
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California News
- The California Medical Association (CMA) is hosting a webinar on May 17 at 12:15PM to educate physicians about AB72.On July 1, this new law takes effect that will change the billing practices of non-participating physicians providing non-emergent care at in-network facilities. The law is designed to reduce unexpected medical bills when patients go to an in-network facility and receive care from an out-of-network doctor. For more information and to register visit
- CMA is hosting a webinar entitled How California Physicians Can Access Free Technical Assistance for MACRA Transition on May 31 at 12:15PM. Register for the webinar at www.cmanet.org/events.
- CMA's Practice Resources (May 2017) is now available online at www.cmanet.org/cpr and features articles entitled CMS publishes short videos on getting started with MACRA; Medi-Cal EHR incentive program reporting deadline extended; Reminder: Failure to revalidate Medicare enrollment information could result in deactivation; and, The Coding Corner: Four requirements to append modifier -59 correctly.
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* MLN Connects Provider News
Announcements
--Open Payments Program Year 2016 Review and Dispute Period Ended May 15; Lookup Tool to Help Determine MIPS Participation Status; Requesting Appeals Redeterminations.
Publications--SNF Billing Reference Booklet-Revised
* Medicare B News JE April 2017 Now Available
* Noridian Medicare Portal Registration and Functionality (May 17)
* Noridian Medicare Website Tour for Part B Provides (May 23)
* Mammography, Pap Test, Pelvic Exam, and Cervical Cancer with HPV Tests (May 31)
* Supplemental Medical Review Contractor (SMRC, May 31)
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- MOASC's LunchTime Series presentation of, The QOPI® Reporting Registry - 2017 MIPS and Beyond! Is scheduled for next Wednesday, May 31st at 12:00pm. This webinar is a quick overview of the pieces of MACRA for 2017 and requirements for successful 2017 MIPS reporting. Tools for the QOPI Reporting Registry offers to help providers successfully complete their 2017 reporting. You will explore the various options practices have to participate in the 2017 MIPS reporting through the QOPI Reporting Registry. Presented by Whit Lloyd, ASCO's QOPI Practice Integration & Support Administrator. RSVP to moasc@moasc.org or call 909-985-9061x1.
- SAVE-THE-DATE, for the MOASC and the University of California Irvine presentation of the 3rd Annual Spotlight on ASCO, Saturday, July 29 at the Waterfront Beach Resort, Huntington Beach. Topics to be addressed, at this time are: ASCO Abstract Highlights, Colorectal & Gastro-Esophageal cancer, Breast cancer and Lung cancer.
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- ANCO member Hope S Rugo, M.D., UC San Francisco, will be named a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) at the 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting. The FASCO designation recognizes ASCO members for their extraordinary volunteer service, dedication, and commitment to ASCO.
- ANCO urges all members to support and ASCO has endorsed Barbara McAneny, M.D., in her campaign for President-Elect of the American Medical Association (AMA). She is a medical oncologist/hematologist from New Mexico and would be the first oncologist elected to serve as AMA President. Dr. McAneny is an active ASCO volunteer who has served on the ASCO Board of Directors (2005-2008) and as a liaison to the AMA House of Delegates (2002-2013). She has also long been active in the AMA, and is past Chair and member of the AMA Board of Trustees. ANCO asks all members who are also AMA members to reach out to their AMA delegates and encourage them to vote for Dr. McAneny for President-Elect in the June 2017 election. For more information, visit www.barbaramcaneny.com.
- ANCO's ASCO Highlights 2017 will not take place in 2017 in lieu of our encouragement of members to attend ASCO's Best of ASCO in San Francisco (http://west-boa.asco.org; June 16-17). However, ANCO will host an event on June 15 entitled The State of Cancer Care with Wes Kidder, M.D., and Margaret Tempero, M.D., University of California, San Francisco, at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
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- More than 800,000 clinicians will not have to comply with Merit-based Incentive Payment System reporting requirements outlined in MACRA, which may save them millions collectively in compliance costs. The majority of physician practices were expected to use the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, known as MIPS, to comply with MACRA as opposed to alternative pay models. Under MIPS, payments would be based on a compilation of quality measures and use of electronic health records. CMS has now sent letters to 806,879 clinicians saying that they will not be evaluated under MIPS in 2017.
- CMS Releases Lookup Tool to Help Clinicians Determine their MIPS Participation Status. Unsure of your participation status in the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)? Clinicians can now use an interactive tool on the CMS Quality Payment Program website to determine if they should participate in the MIPS track of the Quality Payment Program in 2017. To determine your status, enter your national provider identifier (NPI) into the entry field on the tool which can be found on the Quality Payment Program website at https://qpp.cms.gov/. Information will then be provided on whether or not you should participate in MIPS this year and where to find resources.
- CMS encourages physicians to sign up for the new CMS QPP listserv to stay up-to-date on new resources, upcoming milestones and deadlines, and CMS webinars on the QPP. To subscribe to the QPP listserv, go to http://qpp.cms.gov and select "Subscribe to Email Updates" at the bottom of the page.
- As part of CMS Open Payments, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers submitted data about their financial relationships with you - physicians and teaching hospitals. CMS encourages you to review that data before it is made available on a publicly accessible website. Learn more now!
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Affiliate Association News
- ASCO is releasing a series of webinars to guide oncology practices to successful quality reporting pursuant to MACRA/QPP
. The webinars will take place on June 19 (Quality Payment Program: Scoring for Advancing Care Information and Improvement Activities), and July 10 (Quality Payment Program: Optimizing Your MIPS Score). All webinars are scheduled for 1PM PT. For more information and to register, visit www.asco.org/macra > MACRA Webinar Series.
- ACCC is hosting a series of webinars on Immuno-Oncology, as follows: Immuno-Oncology Management Best Practices 2.0 May 18 at 10AM PDT
. Visit www.accc-cancer.org/webinars for more information.
- 2017 ASCO Annual Meeting is June 2-6 at McCormick Place, Chicago. Don't miss engaging education sessions, discussing practice-changing research, and connecting with global experts in oncology. View all session details, including faculty, presentation titles, and times in the preliminary program. Register and reserve your hotel. Limited hotel rooms are available. Join ASCO today and save even more!
- National Cancer Survivors Day® is an annual, unforgettable Celebration of Life for anyone whose life has been touched by cancer. Sunday, June 4, will mark the Celebration's 30th anniversary, as thousands of people around the world will gather to celebrate life after cancer, to pay tribute to the cancer survivors living in their cities, and to bring attention to the ongoing challenges they still face. You can be a part of that by hosting a National Cancer Survivors Day® celebration. Even though NCSD is one month away, you still have time to plan an event to recognize the cancer survivors in your community. The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation has everything you need to plan and promote your local National Cancer Survivors Day® celebration. And it's all available free of charge at ncsd.org. - ASH is accepting nominations for members to participate in its 7th annual Advocacy Leadership Institute taking place September 27-28 in Washington, DC. This two-day workshop is an opportunity for ASH members who wish to learn about legislation and health policy affecting hematology research and practice. Nominations are being accepted through June 16. Learn more at www.hematology.org/Advocacy/ALI.aspx.
- ASCO's Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee is conducting a survey to solicit topics for clinical practice guideline development and/or updates or endorsements. Please complete the survey at
- COA has a new review on PBMs that they are using on Capitol Hill and elsewhere titled: NEW BRIEF HIGHLIGHTS THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF PHARMACY BENEFIT MANAGERS.
- As seen at the Community Oncology Conference, COA has developed a video cartoon short to explain PBMs in simple terms. Borrowing (and giving credit to) a recent article about PBMs in Forbes, COA used buying a cup of coffee to develop this video short. The COA Board just endorsed putting it up on YouTube and spreading it around. Although the Board received one or two comments about this possibly being too tough, the COA Board in some cases said it is not tough enough - especially considering the adverse impact PBMs have on patient care.
- NCCN has published updates to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), et.al., for: breast cancer (V2.2017); gastric cancer (V1.2017); myeloid growth factors (V1.2017); older adult oncology (V2.2017); primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (V2.2017); and, uterine neoplasms (V2.2017). For the complete updated versions of the NCCN Guidelines, et.al., please visit
NCCN.org.
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- EMD Serono and Pfizer Oncology inform ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Bavencio for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma whose disease progressed during or following platinum-containing chemotherapy or within 12 months of neoadjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy.
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Merck
informs ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Keytruda in combination with pemetrexed and carboplatin for the treatment of patients with previously untreated non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
- Novartis Oncology informs ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Rydapt for the treatment of adult patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have a specific genetic mutation called FLT3, in combination with chemotherapy. The drug is approved for use in combination with a companion diagnostic, the LeukoStrat Cdx FLT3 Mutation Assay, which is used to detect the FLT3 mutation in patients with AML. In addition, the FDA has approved the Kisqali Femara Co-Pack for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 negative (HR+/HER2-) advanced or metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
- Takeda Oncology informs ANCO and MOASC that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved Alunbrig for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive (ALK+) metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed on or are intolerant to crizotinib.
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MOASC CALENDAR
ASCO National Meeting in Chicago
June 2-6, 2017
Spotlight on ASCO
July 29, 2017
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(San Francisco,
June 16-17)
(ANCO Member Discount Code IBW17ANCO, San Diego, July 14-15)
(ANCO Member Discount Code ILC17ANCO,
Huntington Beach, July 27-29)
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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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