Whiplash
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Colleagues:
As of October 17, we have now spent all of October under a government shutdown and MSSNY leadership and staff have been working tirelessly to understand its implications for your practice and your patients.
As of Wednesday, we received word that ALL payment processing for claims would be held. As of Thursday, this was amended to only certain claims like telehealth visits which may be extended but have not been yet. Here is the link to the CMS notification. (see first story below under Latest News).
These whiplash policy reversals are simply inexcusable at a time we are still subject to a Medicare reimbursement decline and the upcoming budgetary fight in 2026 due to the HR1 changes.
A letter from Senator Bill Cassidy to the AMA reveals that another potential monumental change may be on the horizon for CPT codes. While a reduction in CPT costs is passed to us through our EMR vendor, wholesale changes to the CPT during a time of already unprecedented changes and reduction in payments is an unwelcome 1-2 punch to our practices.
In the upcoming NYS Legislative session, we have a package of bills we are attempting to advance—with the help of Assembly Deputy Majority Leader Michelle Solages—to aid your patients and your practice. Here are links to a few of the proposed bills we are prioritizing—which, in a meeting with MSSNY, Deputy Majority Leader Michelle Solages has agreed to support:
Establishing Prompt Pay Penalty- S.5323
Mandating insurers to honor Assignment of Benefits
Prior Authorization (PA) Reform
Establishes Gold Card program with required insurer payment.
Finally, please continue your calls to the Governor to encourage a veto of the Wrongful death bill as currently passed. We are already facing a healthcare affordability and access crisis and do not need further destabilization of the liability crisis on top of our baseline as the state with the highest medical liability payments in the country.
To help with these ends, please renew your membership. Statements have also been mailed. Also please support MSSNYPAC at the highest level you can. Words mean much more when backed with financial support.
All the best,
David Jakubowicz, MD, FACS
MSSNY President
