ISASS and Other Stakeholders Urge Congress to Extend Physician Payment Relief in 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule ISASS joined a sign-on letter to congressional leadership advocating that Congress pass legislation to extend the current moratorium on the 2% Medicare payment sequester beyond the current March 31, 2021, expiration date. The letter strongly urges...

New Administration Releases Health Care–Related Initiatives and Executive Actions On January 22, 2021, President Joe Biden and his administration unveiled several executive orders and memoranda. Executive Orders signed January 21 include: Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats: Establishes a P...

Survey of Health Care Providers on Accuracy of Medicare Payments The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts numerous surveys of hospitals and health care providers that are used by the government to make economic decisions that affect the entire medical care system. Key users include CMS, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Congress....

Multi-specialty Relative Value Scale Update Committee Reimbursement Surveys for Spine Surgical Procedures The Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC) acts as advisory body to CMS in setting Relative Value Units (RVUs) in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. As part of their valuation process, the RUC works with specialty societies like ISASS to survey specialty society...