ACOFP Blog
For Family, By Family—ACOFP Blog
Enacted on December 27, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) is one of the largest bills ever passed by Congress—both in terms of funding and policy changes. Many provisions impacted family medicine, but this post highlights changes to one of the most important federal physician training programs—graduate medical education (GME)—and ACOFP’s work to further grow the primary care physician workforce.
Enacted on December 27, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) is one of the largest bills ever passed by Congress—both in terms of funding and policy changes. While there are numerous modifications impacting family medicine physicians, we are focusing on those impacting the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS).
Patients are adapting to the new care delivery paradigm, and studies show very high telehealth satisfaction rates. Telehealth quickly has become a key feature in our health care delivery system, but current health care requirements are struggling to keep pace, particularly as they relate to state licensure.
This is the last installment in our three-part series covering physician-focused proposals in recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed regulations. In this edition, we will discuss two proposals in the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule. These proposals are relevant for physicians practicing in outpatient hospital settings who receive Medicare payments.
Through its CY 2021 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule, CMS proposes to implement several sweeping changes to the current framework and reimbursement for evaluation and management (E/M) CPT codes. These changes originally were finalized in the CY 2020 PFS final rule.
Throughout the PFS Proposed Rule series, ACOFP will highlight major proposals relevant for members and encourage individual physicians to submit comments to CMS. In this first blog post, we discuss the recent telehealth proposals in the PFS proposed rule.
Congress is currently negotiating a new COVID-19 package to stimulate the economy and provide financial relief for individuals and families. For many members of Congress, continuing to provide student loan relief is a major priority although it currently is unclear how this important issue will be addressed in this legislation.
The CARES Act suspended payment obligations from March 13, 2020, through September 30, 2020 (referred to as the “forbearance period”), and most federal student loans will have a zero percent interest rate during this forbearance period.
The Paycheck Protection Program is a new Small Business Administration loan program established by Congress through the CARES Act to protect small businesses, including physician practices, and provide an incentive for these businesses to keep their employees and workers on the payroll.