The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is giving Medicare providers – including APRNs – another year to enroll or update their enrollment in the PECOS system, as a condition of payment for items and services they order for their patients, or referrals they make to other clinicians.
With recent news of excessive, harmful radiation from medical imaging procedures, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced on February 9, 2010 an initiative to decrease unnecessary exposure from computed tomography (CT) scans, nuclear medicine studies, and fluoroscopy. These contribute substantially to total radiation exposure, with much higher radiation than standard and dental X-rays, and mammography.
At the January 14-15, 2010 meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, commonly known as MedPAC, commissioners supported a greater focus on non-physician Medicare providers, and recognized the important role of Nurse Practitioners in primary care and home health care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has withdrawn a controversial Medicaid proposal by the Bush administration to limit federal funding for rehabilitative services provided by child welfare, foster care, and other “nonmedical” programs.
