Article Highlights Trend of Orthopedic Surgery Practices Being Purchased by Private Equity Groups A January 2023 Kaiser Health News articlediscusses the recent trend of orthopedic surgery practices, including spine surgery practices, being purchased by private equity (PE) firms. The article focuses on recent examples and includes discussion of financial benefits for practices as well as...
Omnibus HHS Announces Stricter Auditing Standards for Medicare Advantage Plans On January 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a final rule on Medicare Advantage audit standards. In the final rule, the agency announced it will strike the fee-for-service adjuster from the risk adjustment data validation audits (RAD-VA), a tool that...
White House Announces End to COVID-19 Public Health Emergency for May 2023 On January 29, 2023, the Biden Administration announced a deadline of May 11, 2023 for ending the Public Health Emergency (PHE) that was first declared in March 2020. The official statement, which was made in the form of a letter sent to the...
ISASS Submits Request for New Diagnostic Codes for Low Back Pain On December 2, 2022, ISASS submitted a request to the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee for new ICD-10 diagnostic codes for discogenic low back pain with leg pain. The request will be reviewed in a public forum meeting in March 2023 with publication of...