September 3: ASCO Comments on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Congress Returns for Three-Week Legislative Session
Congress Returns for Three-Week Legislative Session
On September 9, Congress will return for a three-week session that will focus on FY 2009 appropriations.
As FY 2009 begins on October 1, Congress must finalize appropriations by the end of this short session. Currently, the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill contains $30.3 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $4.97 billion for National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The Senate passed their version of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriation bill out of Committee and it awaits floor action. The Senate bill contains $30.2 billion for NIH and $4.95 billion for NCI.
Both the House and Senate bills increase funding for NIH and NCI from FY 2008 levels and both are higher than the President’s request. The President has stated he will veto any bill that is higher than his request.
ASCO will continue to monitor this issue and provide regular updates. If you have any questions, contact ASCO’s Cancer Policy & Clinical Affairs Department at 571-483-1670 or publicpolicy@asco.org.
ASCO Comments on the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule On August 27, ASCO sent comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to the proposed changes in the Medicare physician fee schedule and related policies for 2009.
Issues addressed in the comments include:
CMS should continue the current payment for pre-administration services related to intravenous immune globulin, to maintain patient access.
CMS should avoid applying payment penalties for so-called preventable conditions to situations involving cancer patients’ conditions that might be preventable in patients with other diseases but may not be preventable in cancer patients.
The standards applicable to independent diagnostic testing facilities should not be extended to physician offices.
The current policy on the effective date of physician enrollment in Medicare should be retained.
The anti-markup rules for diagnostic services should not be extended beyond their current scope.
For more information, contact ASCO’s Cancer Policy and Clinical Affairs Department at 571-483-1670 or practice@asco.org.
ASCO Comments on the Proposed Hospital Outpatient Rule for 2009 On August 29, ASCO submitted comments on the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) and related payment policies for 2009.
In the comments, ASCO:
Opposes CMS’ proposal to further reduce payment for separately paid drugs and biologics and strongly advises CMS to set reimbursement for separately paid drugs & biologics at Average Sales Price (ASP) plus 6%.
Supports the proposal to continue exempting anti-emetics from packaging.
Opposes the continued packaging of diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals and contrast agents.
Raises the same concerns voiced in ASCO’s physician fee schedule comments about the introduction of non-payment for so-called preventable conditions and the elimination of a pre-administration fee for IVIG.
For more information, contact ASCO’s Cancer Policy and Clinical Affairs Department at 571-483-1670 or practice@asco.org.
FDA To Host Workshop on Clinical Trials for Local Treatment of Breast Cancer On September 15, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a public workshop to discuss issues associated with developing and implementing feasibility trials for local treatment of breast cancer by thermal ablation.
The public workshop, which will be held at the FDA White Oak Campus in Maryland, will include moderated discussions on the following challenges of breast cancer thermal ablation feasibility studies:
How can potential investigators of thermal ablation technologies standardize their feasibility studies with respect to patient selection and technical device application?
How can feasibility study protocols be standardized in order to validate imaging findings with pathology results?
Depending on patient and tumor characteristics, the treatment care path for breast cancer potentially involves preoperative chemotherapy, operative resection with lymph node biopsy, radiation therapy and/ or postoperative chemotherapy. How can we ensure that the addition of thermal ablation to the treatment care path will not compromise the effectiveness of the other modalities?
You can register and find workshop details online. For more information, contact Binita Ashar with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, at 240-276-3600 or Binita.Ashar@FDA.HHS.gov.
CMS & HHS Issue Proposed Rules on ICD-10 CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have each issued proposals to facilitate a transition to new codes to report diagnoses & hospital procedures.
Currently, the ICD-9-CM code set is used by physicians to report patient diagnoses. However, CMS is proposing to require the use of new ICD-10 code sets by October 1, 2011. CMS cites increasing the number of diagnosis codes and establishing compatibility with other countries that already use ICD-10 as key reasons for the transition.
The draft proposals were published in the Federal Register on August 22, and comments are due by October 21. ASCO plans to review the proposals in detail and submit comments. A full summary of the ICD-10-CM proposals, including a discussion of their effect on physicians, are available on the ASCO Web site.
Each of ASCO's 47 State/Regional Affiliates can nominate one or more community-based practices to apply for this award. The award will be presented to up to three practices at the 2009 ASCO Annual Meeting in Orlando.
Eligible practices must include an ASCO member and a State/Regional Affiliate member. If you are a practice that would like to be considered, contact your state society president.
For more information about CORG or to see if your practice would qualify, visit the ASCO Web site or e-mail corg@asco.org.
Physician Practice Information Survey ASCO, the American Medical Association and more than 70 other organizations are conducting a comprehensive multi-specialty survey of America’s physician practices.
The results will be used to positively influence national decision makers. The section of the study pertaining to your practice expenses is particularly important, and we request that you complete it accurately and in its entirety.
CMS has said it will use the results of this study to help determine physician payment. The survey firm, Dmrkynetec, is contacting randomly selected physicians and practice managers to respond to the survey. All responses will remain confidential.
Dmrkynetec mailed a postcard to its entire physician sample on June 11. If you received this postcard, you have been selected to participate in the survey. If you have any questions about this survey, call Dmrkynetec toll-free at 877-816-8940 and ask to speak with an executive interviewers about the 2008 Physician Practice Information Survey.
If you would like to see if you have been selected to participate in this survey, visit the 2008 Physician Practice Information Survey Web site. If you have been selected, the Web site will provide instructions for participating in the survey. ASCO encourages those selected to participate, and your cooperation is greatly appreciated. News and Notes
Louisiana Oncology Society Offers Hurricane Resources
Oncologists in Louisiana and Texas who have been displaced by Hurricane Gustav, and require assistance with providing their patients (and other oncologists) with updated contact information, should visit the Louisiana Oncology Society’s (LOS) Web site at to register their current contact information. Patients may also send secure messages to registered physicians through the LOS website. For more information or to have your contact information posted by LOS staff, please contact Mary Jo Wichers at 918-261-8951, 918-274-8374 or via email at los@laoncologysociety.org.
ICD-9-CM Coding Guidelines Updated The ICD-9-CM coding guidelines have been updated and are now available on the National Center of Health Statistics Web site. Changes to ICD-9-CM go into effect October 1.
ASCO Conducting Learning Needs Assessment of Member Physicians ASCO is conducting a Needs Assessment of community practice members, focusing on learning styles, barriers to learning, access to technology, and other educational topics. This information will help ASCO more closely tailor products and meetings to members’ individual needs. You may be invited to join a focus group or to simply answer a few questions about your specific educational needs and how ASCO can help.
Join ASCO's Advocacy Network Advocacy is most effective when Members of Congress and government agencies hear from you, their constituents. By participating in ASCO's Advocacy Network, you will have the opportunity to develop ongoing relationships with your legislators while helping ASCO raise awareness on important cancer issues. To join the Advocacy Network, visit ASCO's Grassroots Action Center.
ASCO Extends Resources to Practice Administrators ASCO encourages members whose practice administrators are interested in receiving Cancer Policy Today to forward their administrator's contact information to practice@asco.org.
