How the AAOS Office of Government Relations (OGR)
is working for you …

• Made the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) aware of our concern regarding major changes to evaluation and management (E/M) documentation and payment structure in its 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. If approved, the rule would collapse Level 2-5 E/M visits into one payment—reducing provider reimbursement for more complex patients.
• Advocated for reform of the outdated and duplicative statutory language in the Stark Law and submitted comments to CMS encouraging the establishment of new flexibilities and waiver authority to accommodate coordinated, value-based care. Current Stark Law inhibits high-quality health care and unnecessarily increases costs.
• Secured use of the hospital market basket for calculating Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment updates in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) rule. The new, more beneficial method promotes payment parity between services performed at an ASC versus a hospital outpatient department.
• Secured a separate payment method for nonopioid pain management treatments in the OPPS rule. High costs have historically limited their use, and a separate payment will help to promote multimodal pain relief alternatives.

For more information on all AAOS advocacy efforts, visit www.aaos.org/dc.

Follow the OGR on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AAOSAdvocacy.