FHI's Week in Review

Volume IV, Issue 46

Nov. 13 , 2017

3 steps to avoid a penalty under MACRA

Fierce Healthcare's Joanne Finnegan reports on Nov 9, 2017 that "the American Medical Association's president-elect, Barbara L. McAneny, MD, outlined several steps physicians can take to still participate under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), one of two available payment tracks under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA)."

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As 2017 winds to a close, it's not too late for physicians to avoid a financial penalty for not participating in the new Medicare payment program.

2017's Fattest States in America

Florida is middle of the pack at 23

In a Nov 7, 2017 post, Richie Bernardo writes for Wallet Hub that "Fat is becoming the new normal in America. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than seven in 10 U.S. adults aged 20 and older are either overweight or obese. Rates are lower for children and adolescents but have risen steadily almost every year."

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The writer continues, stating "so prevalent has America's obesity problem grown that the weight-loss industry continues to expand. This year, Americans are expected to spend more than $68 billion just on programs designed to help them shed the extra pounds. The U.S. spends in total nearly $200 billion in annual health care costs related to obesity."

Click HERE to see the list.

To fight opioid crisis, Florida's largest insurer stops covering OxyContin

Daniel Chang writes, in a November 06, 2017 Miami Herald article, that "Florida's largest health insurance company will stop covering OxyContin, the brand name prescription opioid, beginning Jan. 1." Instead, the insurer will start covering an alternative opioid that isn't crushable for injection or snorting, reducing its potential for abuse, Florida Blue announced Monday.

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" Florida Blue is taking the action because the abundance of opioids prescribed to its more than 5 million members represents a risk for abuse and provides evidence that doctors are doling out more than patients need of the powerful but addictive drug," said Scott McClelland, Vice President of Commercial and Specialty Pharmacy.