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CMS Issues Recommendations to Re-Open Health Care Systems in Areas with Low Incidence of COVID-19

As the United States continues to face the unprecedented public health emergency from the COVID-19 pandemic, the tide is turning and some areas throughout the country are seeing a decline in cases. As states and localities begin to stabilize, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is issuing guidance on providing essential non-COVID-19 care to patients without symptoms of COVID-19 in regions with low and stable incidence of COVID-19. This is part of Phase 1 in the Trump Administration’s Guidelines for Opening Up America Again.   “By complying with our ...

CMS Releases Proposed 2017 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released the proposed 2017 Medicare physician payment rule. According to CMS, the new payment rule will transform how Medicare pays for primary care through a new focus on care management and behavioral health. The proposed rule also begins to implement the California Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) fix, which will overhaul California’s outdated geographic payment localities. This long-overdue fix updating California’s Medicare physician payment regions will raise payment levels for 14 urban California counties misclassified as rural, while holding the remaining ...