Advocacy in Action

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently released its Patient Engagement, Information Sharing, and Public Health Interoperability (HTI-2) proposed rule, which is a continuation of the HTI-1 rule finalized in December.

CMS recently released its final notice on the Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies (TCET), introducing a new pathway for FDA-designated breakthrough devices to obtain Medicare coverage while evidence is collected via the national coverage determination (NCD) process, specifically through coverage with evidence development (CED).

On August 1st, Sens. John Boozman (R-AK) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced legislation that aims to protect access to Medicare services by reforming the physician fee schedule.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) have introduced a bicameral bill to require greater transparency for private equity firms and for-profit companies that own health care entities.

On August 7, 2024, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) met with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital and Ambulatory Policy Group to discuss the societies’ perspective on coverage of catheter ablation procedures performed in the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) setting.  

On August 1st, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule for inpatient hospital services for fiscal year (FY) 2025.

On July 10th, CMS released the calendar year (CY) 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule.

On July 10th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its calendar year (CY) 2025 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Payment System proposed rule.

The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) recently released its 2024 Provider Compensation Data Report, finding that cardiology compensation increased from 2022 to 2023 by approximately 5%.

On July 24th, HRS, along with more than 100 national and state medical societies, signed on to a joint comment letter spearheaded by the American Medical Association calling for Congress to pass new legislation to refine the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) to accurately reflect the financial and clinical realities of medical practice today.