[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":334,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"It\u2019s been two years since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an effort to ensure providers spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with patients.Now, CMS contends it has achieved unprecedented success in that aim.In 2017, the agency launched its Patients Over Paperwork initiative in an attempt to improve the healthcare delivery system by reducing unnecessary burdens for clinicians.\u201cWe have searched high and low for duplicative, unnecessary or excessively costly requirements,\u201d said CMS Administrator Seema Verma at an agency event on Tuesday highlighting its accomplishments over the past two years. \u201cThis effort was driven by the conviction that reams of prescriptive government regulations that dictate processes for the health system have failed.\u201d\u201cWhile there\u2019s much more to be done, we\u2019ve made considerable inroads,\u201d Verma claimed, adding that provider burden is at \u201can all-time low.\u201d Overall, she said that CMS\u2019s burden-reduction efforts will save $6.6 billion and 42 million burden hours through 2021.

Verma cited a recent study that showed that $266 billion annually\u2014the largest source of waste in U.S. healthcare\u2014can be attributed to administrative costs. She noted that CMS launched the Patients Over Paperwork initiative to \u201cright the ship\u201d and \u201cget rid of outdated regulations that don\u2019t make sense.\u201dAccording to Verma, the agency has \u201ceased provider burden, reduced administrative costs and put patients first,\u201d thanks to its efforts including coding and documentation requirements for Medicare payment.\u201cLast year, we made historic proposals to simplify how doctors document evaluation and management codes used to bill Medicare\u2014and, those codes have been in place for over 20 years. And, we\u2019re continuing that work this year.\u201dEvaluation and management coding is the process by which physician-patient encounters are translated into five-digit Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, which are submitted for payment. At Tuesday\u2019s CMS event, Barbara Levy, MD, represented the American Medical Association and praised the Patients Over Paperwork initiative.\u201cWe\u2019re really thrilled to be partners with CMS in forwarding this initiative to reduce burden on healthcare providers,\u201d said Levy, co-chair of the AMA\u2019s CPT\/RUC Evaluation and Management Workgroup. \u201cFor years, the physician community has struggled with burdensome guidelines for reporting evaluation and management services. In 2018, under Seema Verma\u2019s leadership, CMS provided the first opportunity to achieve real burden relief on E&M for American physicians.\u201dLevy added that CMS is still engaged in rulemaking, but AMA is hopeful that the agency will fully implement the CPT\/RUC Evaluation and Management Workgroup\u2019s recommendations. \u201cWe need to be freed of the excessive administrative burdens so that we can devote that time to patient care,\u201d she said. \u201cThe AMA strongly supports Administrator Verma and the Patients Over Paperwork initiative.\u201d When it comes to health IT, Verma pointed out that CMS has \u201cincreased flexibility for medical students to put information into the electronic health record (to) make it easier for teaching physicians to train the next generation of doctors.\u201d She said the agency has proposals to \u201cextend this policy to other clinical teachers like physician assistants and nurse practitioners.\u201dIn response, Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, thanked Verma and said AAMC strongly supports the Patients Over Paperwork initiative, including \u201callowing teaching physicians to verify in the medical records any student documentation of billable E&M services\u2014rather than requiring the attending physician to re-document the work.\u201d Verma noted that CMS is also tackling the challenging issue of prior authorization as part of its Patients Over Paperwork initiative to reduce administrative burdens in healthcare. \u201cPrior authorization is particularly important to us,\u201d she emphasized. Towards that end, Verma said CMS is continuing its support for the Da Vinci Project, a payer-provider led effort to leverage HL7\u2019s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to exchange critical data required for value-based care delivery.The Da Vinci Project is \u201ca private sector initiative focused on integrating value-based data exchange to help streamline access to coverage requirements,\u201d she said.However, last month, more than 100 physician organizations\u2014led by the American Medical Association\u2014sent a letter to CMS expressing \u201cstrong concerns\u201d that the agency may be too focused on automation as the \u201conly vehicle\u201d for implementing prior authorization (PA) reforms.\u201cWe are aware that CMS has invested heavily in the Da Vinci Project, which leverages technology to facilitate electronic exchange of clinical data by extracting information from physicians\u2019 electronic health records,\u201d stated the letter to Verma. \u201cWhile Da Vinci holds promise, there are a series of issues with exclusively relying on technology to address the burdens of PA.\u201dThe medical societies charged in their letter that the Da Vinci Project \u201cwill allow payers unprecedented access to EHRs\u201d and that \u201cprotections are needed to prevent plans from inappropriately accessing patient information, coercing physicians into using technology (e.g., through contracts), or interfering with medical decision making.\u201dFurther, the physician groups contend that the Da Vinci Project \u201crepresents nascent technologies that have yet to be widely implemented\u201d and, as a result, \u201cthe costs and the timeframe availability across EHR vendors remain unclear.\u201d","saveContent":"It\u2019s been two years since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an effort to ensure providers spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with patients.Now, CMS contends it has achieved unprecedented success in that aim.In 2017, the agency launched its Patients Over Paperwork initiative in an attempt to improve the healthcare delivery system by reducing unnecessary burdens for clinicians.\u201cWe have searched high and low for duplicative, unnecessary or excessively costly requirements,\u201d said CMS Administrator Seema Verma at an agency event on Tuesday highlighting its accomplishments over the past two years. \u201cThis effort was driven by the conviction that reams of prescriptive government regulations that dictate processes for the health system have failed.\u201d\u201cWhile there\u2019s much more to be done, we\u2019ve made considerable inroads,\u201d Verma claimed, adding that provider burden is at \u201can all-time low.\u201d Overall, she said that CMS\u2019s burden-reduction efforts will save $6.6 billion and 42 million burden hours through 2021.

Verma cited a recent study that showed that $266 billion annually\u2014the largest source of waste in U.S. healthcare\u2014can be attributed to administrative costs. She noted that CMS launched the Patients Over Paperwork initiative to \u201cright the ship\u201d and \u201cget rid of outdated regulations that don\u2019t make sense.\u201dAccording to Verma, the agency has \u201ceased provider burden, reduced administrative costs and put patients first,\u201d thanks to its efforts including coding and documentation requirements for Medicare payment.\u201cLast year, we made historic proposals to simplify how doctors document evaluation and management codes used to bill Medicare\u2014and, those codes have been in place for over 20 years. And, we\u2019re continuing that work this year.\u201dEvaluation and management coding is the process by which physician-patient encounters are translated into five-digit Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, which are submitted for payment. At Tuesday\u2019s CMS event, Barbara Levy, MD, represented the American Medical Association and praised the Patients Over Paperwork initiative.\u201cWe\u2019re really thrilled to be partners with CMS in forwarding this initiative to reduce burden on healthcare providers,\u201d said Levy, co-chair of the AMA\u2019s CPT\/RUC Evaluation and Management Workgroup. \u201cFor years, the physician community has struggled with burdensome guidelines for reporting evaluation and management services. In 2018, under Seema Verma\u2019s leadership, CMS provided the first opportunity to achieve real burden relief on E&M for American physicians.\u201dLevy added that CMS is still engaged in rulemaking, but AMA is hopeful that the agency will fully implement the CPT\/RUC Evaluation and Management Workgroup\u2019s recommendations. \u201cWe need to be freed of the excessive administrative burdens so that we can devote that time to patient care,\u201d she said. \u201cThe AMA strongly supports Administrator Verma and the Patients Over Paperwork initiative.\u201d When it comes to health IT, Verma pointed out that CMS has \u201cincreased flexibility for medical students to put information into the electronic health record (to) make it easier for teaching physicians to train the next generation of doctors.\u201d She said the agency has proposals to \u201cextend this policy to other clinical teachers like physician assistants and nurse practitioners.\u201dIn response, Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges, thanked Verma and said AAMC strongly supports the Patients Over Paperwork initiative, including \u201callowing teaching physicians to verify in the medical records any student documentation of billable E&M services\u2014rather than requiring the attending physician to re-document the work.\u201d Verma noted that CMS is also tackling the challenging issue of prior authorization as part of its Patients Over Paperwork initiative to reduce administrative burdens in healthcare. \u201cPrior authorization is particularly important to us,\u201d she emphasized. Towards that end, Verma said CMS is continuing its support for the Da Vinci Project, a payer-provider led effort to leverage HL7\u2019s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) to exchange critical data required for value-based care delivery.The Da Vinci Project is \u201ca private sector initiative focused on integrating value-based data exchange to help streamline access to coverage requirements,\u201d she said.However, last month, more than 100 physician organizations\u2014led by the American Medical Association\u2014sent a letter to CMS expressing \u201cstrong concerns\u201d that the agency may be too focused on automation as the \u201conly vehicle\u201d for implementing prior authorization (PA) reforms.\u201cWe are aware that CMS has invested heavily in the Da Vinci Project, which leverages technology to facilitate electronic exchange of clinical data by extracting information from physicians\u2019 electronic health records,\u201d stated the letter to Verma. \u201cWhile Da Vinci holds promise, there are a series of issues with exclusively relying on technology to address the burdens of PA.\u201dThe medical societies charged in their letter that the Da Vinci Project \u201cwill allow payers unprecedented access to EHRs\u201d and that \u201cprotections are needed to prevent plans from inappropriately accessing patient information, coercing physicians into using technology (e.g., through contracts), or interfering with medical decision making.\u201dFurther, the physician groups contend that the Da Vinci Project \u201crepresents nascent technologies that have yet to be widely implemented\u201d and, as a result, \u201cthe costs and the timeframe availability across EHR vendors remain unclear.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

Verma: CMS efforts have reduced provider burden to all-time low

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