CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: August 3, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. November Ballot Rundown California’s ballot has evolved into an impressive — and daunting — laundry list of policy proposals, running the gamut of fiscal and social policy. While the 17 measures on the ballot are not a statewide record, many of the state’s hot-button political issues — including healthcare, guns, criminal justice, and environmental protection — will all be decided by voters this fall. Tax measures loom large this year, with ... August 3, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight, Propositions 0 0 Comment Read More »
Seeking Two Physicians for the HOD Resident Fellow Section SDCMS is seeking two resident physicians to serve on the Resident Fellow Section (RFS) Delegation for this year’s CMA House of Delegates (HOD). Requirements to serve include being an active resident member of SDCMS-CMA and being able to attend all of HOD (October 15–16, 2016 in Sacramento). If interested in being nominated or for additional information, please contact Jen Ohmstede at (858) 300-2781 or via email at JOhmstede@SDCMS.org. The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, July 15, 2016. Travel expenses for the RFS delegates are ... July 12, 2016 CMA, House of Delegates HOD, Resident Physicians 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: June 21, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Budget and Election Watch This week, we’ll wrap up the primary election, and focus on what to watch in November. But we begin with the state budget, which was approved by lawmakers last week after quick agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown. The budget is another big win for Brown, who won support from Democrats to boost budget reserves by billions above the constitutionally guaranteed minimum. Brown did offer more money for ... June 21, 2016 Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
Dr. Mihir Parikh Installed as President of SDCMS for 2016–17 Long-time San Diego County Medical Society member, Dr. Mihir Parikh, was installed as SDCMS's 131st president on Saturday, June 4, at the sixth-annual White Coat Gala, an event hosted by SDCMS and Champions for Health (formerly the SDCMS Foundation) to raise funds for Project Access San Diego, the county’s only comprehensive network of coordinated, donated healthcare services for medically underserved patients. Dr. Parikh is a board-certified ophthalmologist and has performed more than 12,000 LASIK procedures, including many for San Diego Chargers players. After Dr. Parikh graduated cum laude and Phi ... June 9, 2016 SDCMS Leadership Dr. Parikh 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: June 7, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. All Eyes on California The nation’s eyes will be on California this week, as voters here go to the polls in the final major presidential contest of the long primary season. We’ve seen a massive swell in new voter registration this year. State voter rolls grew by more than 646,000 voters in April and May alone, with more than three-fourths of those voters signing up as Democrats. It will be important ... June 7, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
Ensure You Receive Maximum Incentive Funds Champions for Health can assist primary care and specialty care physicians with new reporting to ensure you receive maximum incentive funds. Those physicians registered for Medi-Cal (30% of practice) are eligible to receive FREE technical assistance, with very low-cost technical assistance available for Medicare providers. SDCMS members qualify for a 40% discount. For further information, email Barbara.Mandel@SDCMS.org or call (858) 300-2779. May 26, 2016 Medi-Cal Incentive Funds, Quality Reporting 0 0 Comment Read More »
DHCS Begins Recouping Retroactive Medi-Cal Radiology Cuts May 11, 2016 In 2010, the California state budget included cuts to Medi-Cal radiology rates, stipulating that the maximum reimbursement rates for radiology services could not exceed 80 percent of the Medicare rate for the same or similar services. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) did not, however, implement the rate reduction until July 20, 2015, with retroactive cuts going back to October 2012. To recoup the retroactive cuts, DHCS recently announced that it would be offsetting overpayments against amounts due. Physicians affected by this retroactive recoupment were notified by ... May 11, 2016 Medi-Cal DHCS, Medi-Cal, Radiology 0 0 Comment Read More »
Noridian Will Begin Deactivations on May 31 for Failure to Revalidate May 10, 2016 Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), all Medicare providers and suppliers have been required to revalidate their Medicare enrollment information under new enrollment screening criteria in an effort to prevent fraud within the Medicare system. Once a Medicare enrollment application is validated, the clock starts ticking on a five-year revalidation cycle. Now that five years have passed since the ACA's revalidation requirement took effect, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has initiated a second cycle of revalidation requests. According to CMS, Medicare Administrative ... May 11, 2016 Medicare Noridian 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: May 10, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Budget Battles Begin For the last several years, the California budget has essentially been a non-story. Prop. 25, passed in 2010, changed the legislative vote requirement to pass a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority. In 2012, as the economy continued its incremental crawl out of the great recession, voters passed Prop. 30, which hiked the state’s upper-income tax brackets, providing state coffers with billions more in revenue to ... May 10, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
Top Doctors 2016 Top Doctors 2016 Election: May 9 – June 20 SAN DIEGO COUNTY PHYSICIANS: The San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS) invites you to participate in the selection process for “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” — Top Doctors 2016. The SDCMS leadership wishes the selection process, while not perfect, to be fair, open, and honest for physician peers selecting the top 5% of active San Diego County physicians. Three years ago, we significantly improved the selection process to ensure a more proportionate representation between modes of practice, balancing the selectees between very large groups and ... May 6, 2016 Top Doctors Top Doctors 0 0 Comment Read More »