For the first time, the federal government has made public chargemaster data for the 100 most common Medicare inpatient diagnostic related groups or DRGs. The data show that hospital prices often vary widely, even within the same within the same city or region. The massive file contains chargemaster data, or what some call the “sticker...

ISASS Coding and Reimbursement Task Force Chair Dr. Morgan Lorio participated in a meeting with officials from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, to discuss reimbursement of minimally invasive spine surgery procedures in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.  The meeting occurred February 6, 2019, and was focused primarily on CPT code 27279, Minimally...

The U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force recently released a draft report identifying gaps or inconsistencies and proposing updates to best practices and recommendations for pain management. The report comes after one year of regular meetings with the task force, which was authorized by section 101...

On December 20, 2018, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to Genetech Inc., citing numerous deviations from current good manufacturing and tissue practices. The compliance issues were discovered during a facility inspection between June 18 and June 22, 2018. The agency also found that the company was engaged in the manufacturing and...