Complete Story
 

03/16/2021

Federal Advocacy Update

 


Optum Revises Administrative Policy that Would Have Raised Fees on Practices


After hearing from practices across the state, OSMA communicated directly with United Healthcare, the Ohio Department of Insurance, and the Ohio Department of Medicaid to revise recent changes to Optum Pay that would have charged fees to practices to access basic claim information.

Additionally, OSMA joined the AMA and other national specialty societies pushing back on this change—as it impacted practices nationwide. The results of these advocacy efforts led Optum to announce that they will allow practices to continue to access basic claim information with no fees. And if a practice had already signed up for the premium plan that charged fees—they can now cancel that upgrade.

View the policy announcement & more details here: 

https://www.uhcprovider.com/content/provider/en/resource-library/news/featured-news-2021/optum-pay-basic-downloadable-payment-info.html

 


Biden Administration Announces Increase to Vaccine Administration Payment


After intense advocacy efforts from organized medicine—led by the AMA and supported by specialty and state societies including OSMA—this week, the Biden-Harris Administration nearly doubled the Medicare payment for administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to $40 per administration. This increase includes the administration of vaccines requiring two doses.

The updated Medicare payment rate reflects the additional resources necessary to ensure the vaccine is administered safely and appropriately. The AMA and AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC) brought to the Administration’s attention the increased expenses to safely administer the vaccines and provide in-person care during the public health emergency. These costs are described by the CPT Editorial Panel with the new CPT code 99072, and are now bundled into the new COVID immunization administration payments. 

 

 

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