Per the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services adopted the American Medical Association CPT® framework for Evaluation and Management (E/M) code level selection for Office and Outpatient visits beginning Jan. 1, 2021. PAMED created this reference sheet for members to simplify the code lookup process.

On February 10, 2021, Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill and Rep. Steven Mentzer announced the introduction of legislation that would reform the onerous prior authorization and step therapy (fail first) processes that are delaying appropriate patient care and increasingly undermining longstanding decisions made between physicians and their patients for the betterment of patient health care.

On Feb. 5, 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of State and Gov. Wolf issued regulatory waivers enabling certain retired physicians and medical students to assist with COVID-19 vaccination efforts. PAMED continued to advocate for its members and sought clarification, which we received on Feb. 12, regarding the waiver relative to retired physicians, including whether they apply to only retired physicians or also to physicians who hold an active-retired license and whether medical malpractice insurance is required.

The State Board of Medicine has issued proposed regulations that update its existing regulations on the subject of child abuse reporting in order to become consistent with amendments to the Child Protective Services Law.

On Feb. 3, 2021, Gov. Tom Wolf delivered his 2021-22 budget address. Learn about noteworthy health care-related provisions, as well as what's on the Governor's 2021 Legislative Agenda.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society Board of Trustees met virtually on Feb. 3, 2021. Here is a brief recap.

Last year, the Philadelphia City Council amended provisions of the Philadelphia Code to require that certain health care employees are compensated in the event they contract a communicable disease during a pandemic or epidemic event, all under certain terms and conditions.

A new waiver issued by Gov. Wolf expands the supervision options for pharmacy interns to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

The Doctors and Clinicians Preview Period opened Jan. 25, 2021, allowing eligible clinicians to preview Quality Payment Program (QPP) performance data for 2019. Clinicians can access the preview through the QPP site before it becomes publicly available.

Governor Wolf announced that, effective Jan. 23, 2021, Alison Beam will serve as Pennsylvania’s new Secretary of Health and Wendy Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACPM, a Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) member, will serve as Interim Acting Physician General.

The United States Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) recently issued a final rule relating to transparency and fairness in civil enforcement actions.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, included an extensive number of provisions aiming to ease burdens as the country continues to struggle amid the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the directives included in the legislation freezes the minimum thresholds for qualifying participation in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (Advanced APMs) in the Quality Payment Program.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a new rule on Jan. 15, 2021 regarding the prior authorization process which builds on the concept of interoperability.

PAMED issued the following statement regarding Dr. Rachel Levine's nomination to assistant secretary of health by President-Elect Joe Biden.

PAMED issued the following statement regarding the recent update of DOH's interim vaccination plan.

Final-form regulations by the State Board of Dentistry expanding the practice sites of public health dental hygiene practitioner (PHDHPs) to include certain physician offices were published in the Jan.16, 2021 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. These regulations took effect immediately upon publication.

Gov. Wolf has approved a waiver, requested by the Pennsylvania Department of State, that temporally suspends the requirement that pharmacist administration of injectable medications, biologicals and immunizations be done only under either an order or written protocol.

Following the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit’s Jan. 2021 decision, a petition for rehearing was filed. This petition for rehearing has been denied by the court.

On Jan. 8, 2021, the Pa. Department of Health announced that it has updated its Interim Vaccination Plan to align with new Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations.

The license renewal deadline for MD licensees has been extended to March 31, 2021. We've been getting questions from MDs regarding how to apply CME credits with this extension. This article provides clarification.