AASM members and sleep centers in Medicare Jurisdiction 5 and Jurisdiction 8 should be aware of a new local coverage determination (LCD) policy issued by Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS) Government Health Administrators regarding coverage for Polysomnography and Other Sleep Studies (L36839).

The deadline for 2016 data submission through the PQRSwizard site has been extended from March 10 to March 17 at 5 p.m. EDT.

On Dec. 13, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will not apply negative 2017 or 2018 payment adjustments to any eligible professional or group practice that was unable to satisfactorily report certain quality data to the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) for the fourth quarter of this year due to the impact of recent updates to the ICD-10 codes.

On Dec. 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officially published on the Quality Payment Program (QPP) website the 2017 Quality Measures Specifications documents for the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program, which will begin Jan. 1, 2017.

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.