Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Eliminate Costly Insurer Fees on Electronic Transactions
The No Fees for EFTs Act, recently introduced by Representatives Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Morgan Griffith (R-VA), Ami Bera, MD (D-CA), Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-IA), and Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), would address the growing financial and administrative burden insurance companies are forcing on physicians by eliminating fees associated with electronic transactions for physician services.
Under current law, health plans are required to offer medical practices the option to receive reimbursements electronically. However, insurers impose charges on healthcare providers of up to 5% for electronic fund transfers (EFTs), at a time when physicians across the country are already struggling under mounting administrative burdens, increased practice expenses, high inflation, and falling payment for their services.
The No Fees for EFTs Act would ban both public and private health plans from imposing these fees, providing much needed relief to physician practices and the patients they serve. Read the ACS letter in support of the bill.
Urge Your Elected Officials to Act on PAHPA Reauthorization
The Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) was enacted to improve the nation’s response to public health and medical emergencies. Unfortunately, this important program expired on September 30, 2023, and has yet to be reauthorized.
PAHPA is crucial to our nation's ability to respond effectively to public health emergencies and ensures that we are adequately prepared to protect the health and safety of our citizens. As such, there are a number of initiatives included in PAHPA that the ACS Committee on Trauma directly supports. These include the Mission Zero Act and initial language in support of our proposed National Trauma and Emergency Preparedness System (NTEPS), among others.
Visit SurgeonsVoice.org to urge our elected officials to take action and reauthorize PAHPA immediately.
ACS Submits Comments Detailing Concerns Over Independent Dispute Resolution Proposals
The ACS recently sent a letter detailing continued concern over aggressive payment reduction efforts implemented by insurers in response to the No Surprises Act (NSA). The letter was sent to the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury based on a proposed rule on Federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Operations.
The IDR process was set up under the NSA as a way for insurers and healthcare providers to reach agreement on adequate and appropriate payment levels. Unfortunately, as implemented, insurers appear to be using the NSA and the IDR process as a means of driving down payments on providers.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) supports this premise. The GAO report released in December showed that most cases reviewed in the IDR process were decided in favor of the initiating party, typically the physician or facility. The report states that there are likely many additional providers who are harmed by downward pressure on out-of-network payments but who find the IDR process prohibitively costly or burdensome. This in turn creates an additional, unintended incentive for insurers to reduce payments below adequate levels, creating a downward spiral.
The letter also praised efforts by the Departments in the proposed rule to address several shortcomings in the IDR process intended to make it more responsive and accessible for physicians seeking remedy to inadequate reimbursement. These proposals include streamlining eligibility determinations and facilitating the transmission of information from insurers needed for the process among others.
The ACS will continue advocating for policies that ensure surgeons are not unduly harmed in efforts to protect patients from unanticipated medical bills.
Leadership & Advocacy Summit
Train in Advocacy and Put Lessons to Use during Advocacy Summit
Advocating for policies that advance surgery at the local, state, and federal levels is a critical skill as healthcare and surgery face unprecedented challenges in 2024 and beyond. Learn the skills to make advocacy inroads, and then make an impact by meeting leaders from Congress. Register today for the ACS Leadership & Advocacy Summit, April 13–16 at the Westin Washington, DC Downtown Hotel.
The Summit offers comprehensive and specialized sessions providing ACS members, leaders, and advocates with topics focused on effective surgeon leadership, as well as interactive advocacy training with coordinated visits to Congressional offices.
Train for Advocacy and Meet Lawmakers
The Advocacy Summit will take place Sunday evening, April 14, to Tuesday, April 16, and provides US members with an update on ACS policy priorities.
In addition to a keynote address on Sunday evening and Monday panel sessions, advocacy training and scheduled congressional visits will be provided as part of the event. ACS staff will send ACS members to the Hill equipped to ask Congress for progress on a range of issues. The ACS will provide more information in the coming weeks.
The Advocacy Summit will be an in-person event with some recorded sessions. There will be no virtual option to view the Advocacy Summit.
Attend the Leadership Summit to Learn Important Skills
Preceding the Advocacy Summit, the Leadership Summit includes 2 days of programming covering an in-depth exploration of leadership principles and offers compelling speakers addressing key topics in surgical leadership.
The Summit starts on Saturday, April 13, with optional sessions that feature new topics on risk management, communications, and challenges in practice management. On Sunday, the traditional programming showcases compelling speakers addressing key themes in surgical leadership. During the Leadership Summit, attendees will learn new and innovative ways to face challenges and enhance their leadership skills, both in and out of the operating room.
The Leadership Summit is a hybrid event with in-person and virtual registration options open to all ACS members and nonmembers. In-person attendees will experience the onsite program and receive access to livestreamed and on-demand recordings. Virtual attendees will have access to the livestreamed and on-demand content.
With Medicare and third-party payor policy and coding changes taking effect in 2024, it is imperative that surgeons and their coding staff have accurate and up-to-date information to protect reimbursements and optimize efficiency. The next in-person ACS/Karen Zupko & Associates (KZA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) coding course, coming March 8–9, in Dallas, Texas, can help.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott Room rate and cutoff date: $169 (plus tax), February 14, 2024 Reservation Phone: 888-236-2427
The 2-day course is presented into two parts.
Session #1: 2024 Spotlight on E/M and Office Procedures for the General Surgeon Friday, March 8, 8:00 am–4:00 pm
Participants will learn how to properly apply elements of medical decision making when selecting levels of evaluation and management (E/M) codes; correctly use E/M modifiers; identify key issues in nonphysician practitioner and critical care billing; and accurately code and document common office procedures.
Session #2: Mastering General Surgery Coding and RVU Optimization Saturday, March 9, 8:00 am–4:00 pm
Attendees will learn how to select correct codes (including new 2024 CPT codes) for common general surgery procedures; recognize the impact of modifiers on global periods and reimbursement; identify areas for improvement in surgical documentation; and manage pre-certification and pre-authorization.
ACS members and their staff receive a registration discount. For more information on registration, email KZA at education@karenzupko.com or call 312-642-8310. For more information or if you have questions about the 2024 ACS live coding workshops, visit the KZA website or send an email to practicemanagement@facs.org.
