The AASM has developed a new diagnostic coding tool for sleep center staff and physicians: the ICD-9 to ICD-10 Sleep Medicine Crosswalk.  This new tool will come in handy as sleep centers prepare to transition to the ICD-10 coding system, which is far more complex than the current ICD-9 coding system.

On Wednesday, April 9, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published 2012 Medicare provider utilization and payment data. The release includes data for over 880,000 distinct health care providers, who collectively received $77 billion for Medicare Part B services provied in 2012.

The EHR Incentive Program meaningful use registration and attestation deadline is March 31, 2014. Attestation must be completed by 11:59pm ET on March 31 in order to receive an incentive for 2013 participation.

Last month the AASM announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agreed to conduct end-to-end testing for ICD-10 claims submission. 

ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes will be required on all claims for services provided on and after October 1. In her keynote address at a recent healthcare convention, CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner indicated that the implementation date has been delayed several times and that it’s time to move forward.

In anticipation of the October 1, 2014 ICD-10 implementation deadline, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will conduct end-to-end testing of ICD-10 claims prior to the implementation date. A Medicare Learning Network article, also released this week, describes CMS’s phased approach to testing.

This month, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) published its annual Work Plan describing the projects and reviews it will undertake in 2014.  Sleep has been featured throughout the OIG Work Plan in recent years.

Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will extend the deadline for physicians and other eligible professionals to attest to meaningful use for the 2013 reporting year of the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) incentive program.

A new American Medical Association (AMA) report depicts how shifting the nation's health care system from a fee-for-service, payment-based model to another model could be difficult because nearly one-third of all physician compensations are based on personal productivity, which might incentivize quantity over quality

On Jan. 24, 2014 the AASM submitted a comment letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule.