Medicare physician payment relief was once again not included in the proposed government funding package released over the weekend. NANS urges you to contact your members of Congress to call on leadership to add the “Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act” (H.R. 879) language in the funding bill before they vote this week.

NANS joined over 40 medical organizations in a joint letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) expressing concerns over its new policy imposing a 15% cap on indirect cost rates for all NIH grants.

NANS joined 10 other societies to press Congress to amend the SUPPORT Act to protect access to intrathecal pain pumps.
 
Specifically, the letter requests changes to the code by allowing direct dispensing of medication syringes to the prescribing physician or their designate (such as the refilling agency) and adding Schedule II medications to the list of approved schedules for these deliveries.

CHICAGO, IL — The North American Neuromodulation Society has been reviewed by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) and awarded Provisional Accreditation for two years as a provider of continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. 

Open enrollment for Medicare Advantage runs October 15 - December 7. If you see Medicare patients, encourage them to review all their options when considering which type of Medicare plan they want. If they are looking at Medicare Advantage plans, they need to know that all plans are not the same.
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Physicians should be aware that Humana’s Medicare Advantage plan has some of the most rigorous and strict prior authorization requirements when it comes to neuromodulation therapies like spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS).

Last December we alerted you to coverage issues around closed-loop SCS. Humana, Evicore, Cigna, and UPMC all had policies that characterized the therapy as “experimental, investigational and/or unproven.” Thanks to the efforts of the Multi-Society Pain Workgroup, Evicore and Cigna both revised their policies this spring. At the end of this summer, Humana followed suit but left the language in place for commercial coverage. Earlier this month, NANS led efforts with the MPW to issue this letter to Humana, urging them to follow the example of their Medicare Advantage plan to revise their policy.

The North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) crafted a letter in response to the CMS Proposed Rule Making (Proposed Rule) on the revisions to Medicare payment policies under the Physician Payment Schedule (PFS) for calendar year (CY) 2025. The letter includes NANS' recommendations and comments regarding the CY 2025 Proposed Conversion Factor, Prior Authorization for Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), Telehealth Services under PFS.

According to the American Brain Coalition of which NANS is a member, Congressman Luttrell, co-chair of the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus, has submitted an amendment to the Rules Committee in favor of increasing funding for the BRAIN Initiative (H.R. 9029).

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has modified a Final Rule updating the HIPAA Privacy Rule. This rule prohibits the use or disclosure of reproductive protected health information (PHI) by covered entities, including hospitals, health plans, health care clearinghouses, and their business associates.