Registration is now open for a free hour-long webinar on Tuesday November 29 at 7 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. Central, 4 p.m. Pacific) about the implementation of the Quality Payment Program portion of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

AASM members may be called upon to complete these important surveys, which will help the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services assign accurate reimbursement rates for home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) services.

The implementation of MACRA and the QPP will have a significant impact on Medicare payment for years to come.

On Friday, Oct. 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized its ruling on the implementation of the Quality Payment Program (QPP) established under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

On Jan. 1, 2017, physicians and other health care providers will embark on the era of MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which will dramatically change how providers are paid by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

This year, the AASM is again offering a discounted rate for submission of data through the PQRSwizard registry, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved reporting mechanism for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS).

An article by economists and actuaries in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary estimates that health spending growth in the U.S. for 2015 to 2025 is projected to average 5.8 percent and to represent 20.1 percent of the total economy by 2025.

On July 7, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule detailing proposals for payment and policies for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule effective Jan. 1, 2017. The rule recommends 2017 payment rates for evaluation and management services and sleep services that are consistent with rates in 2016.

This week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposal to align and modernize how Medicare payments are tied to the cost and quality of patient care.

The AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events, Version 2.3 will be released online on Friday, April 1, 2016. All subscribers will have immediate digital access to Version 2.3, which includes several important changes.