Newsroom
June 23, 2022
WLOS — A North Carolina bill seeks to "de-weaponize" medical debt. According to the Urban Institute, more than a third of the state’s population was in collections for medical debt at the end of 2020.
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October 28, 2021
Letter calls on the United States Congress to swiftly enact legislation approving urgently needed climate measures to protect human health.
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September 2, 2021
Protecting Americans’ health and well-being has always been at the heart of fighting climate change, and now for the first time, its importance is being elevated at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
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January 20, 2021
Today President Biden made good on his promise to issue a series of Executive Orders (EOs).
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April 11, 2018
Dr. Robert Kline has shared an article with the Western Carolina Medical Society that he wrote for Physicians for a National Health Program. Dr. Kline eagerly wanted to share with his colleagues from WNC.
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March 15, 2018
The Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville, NC has partnered with a national maternal child health collaborative to test a new model that it helped to develop for assessing mothers’ health during well-child visits.
The goal of this screening tool is to reduce low birth weight and preterm births, which account for more than 70 percent of infant mortality, where the US ranks among the worst of all industrialized nations.
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February 26, 2018
National Doctors’ Day is March 30, 2018. The Western Carolina Medical Society (WCMS) honors and thanks the physicians across Western North Carolina for their commitment to exceptional medical care and for their advocacy on behalf of their patients.
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February 23, 2018
The AMA arranged for a CMS briefing on the new Medicare card that took place on February 21st from 3-4pm eastern time. The new Medicare card is a result of MACRA's requirement that CMS issue Medicare cards that do not display Social Security Numbers to address the risk of beneficiary identity theft. New Medicare cards will be issued beginning in April 2018 and physician offices must be prepared to accept the new Medicare identification number at that time.
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February 9, 2018
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) recently announced the administration’s first new Medicare alternative payment model, Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced). This voluntary model includes 29 inpatient and 3 outpatient clinical episodes. Please join AMA Board Chair Dr. Gerald Harmon on Monday evening, Feb. 26th, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm Central time, for a free webinar on the model. The webinar, designed for physicians and focusing on the clinical aspects of the model, will be presented by CMMI’s Dr. Steven Farmer, who is a cardiologist, senior advisor and medical officer. Dr. Farmer will also respond to questions from webinar participants. The webinar comes at a key time, two weeks before applications to participate in the model will be due.
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January 11, 2018
CMS today announced new guidance that will support state efforts to improve Medicaid enrollee health outcomes by incentivizing community engagement among able-bodied, working-age Medicaid beneficiaries.
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January 10, 2018
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) announced the launch of a new voluntary bundled payment model called Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced).
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November 22, 2017
CMS updates Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model for 2019
Expansion of model to 25 total states to provide Medicare beneficiaries with more choices and lower costs
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced several updates to the Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model for 2019 that encourages customized benefit designs and flexibilities that meet the health needs of beneficiaries in a total of 25 states.
“This Administration is committed to making sure that our seniors have more choices and lower premiums in their Medicare Advantage plans,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “CMS expects that this demonstration will provide insights into future innovations for the Medicare Advantage program.”
CMS recently announced in the Medicare Advantage and Part D proposed rule that it is providing new flexibility for customized benefit designs that address the specific health needs of certain beneficiaries under Medicare Advantage. This allows additional plan variety and options, reduced cost sharing for customized benefits and different cost-sharing for beneficiaries that meet specific medical criteria
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October 25, 2017
CDC issued the attached Health Advisory on 10/24/17 to remind clinicians assessing patients currently in or recently returned from hurricane-affected areas to be vigilant in looking for certain infectious diseases, including leptospirosis, dengue, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, vibriosis, and influenza.
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October 18, 2017
October 11, 2017– Last week was the deadline for physicians and other eligible professionals to begin collecting data to meet reporting requirements under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) or face a potential reduction in future Medicare reimbursement.
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October 13, 2017
President Trump announced late last night that the Administration would no longer make the cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurers offering plans in the ACA marketplace.
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