November 2006 | Vol. 24, No. 11

Industry News

Nov. 5-11 is Allied Health Professions Week 2006

The Health Professions Network (HPN) has urged vascular ultrasound laboratories to participate in the celebration of Allied Health Professions Week (AHPW), November 5-11, 2006. There is still time to do something in your community or facility.

AHPW is the one time each year allied health professionals from all health professions can focus on encouraging pride in their professions and promoting collaboration among all the disciplines that are a part of allied health.

Whether you work for a healthcare facility, an allied health education program, or a professional association, there are lots of ways to recognize the importance of allied health professionals in your community. For additional information on how to celebrate Allied Health Professions Week 2006 this month, please go the HPN website at http://www.healthpronet.org for tools to help you promote allied health in your community or organization. These tools include the Allied Health Professionals Story, a news release, celebration ideas, and a catalog of AHPW items.

If you participate in Allied Health Professionals Week 2006, please send the details of your celebration, with photos, to SVU by email so that we can report on it in a future e-Spectrum newsletter. Thanks!

AIUM Supports FDA Decision to Deny Over-the-Counter Use of Handheld Doppler Fetoscopes

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) reports it supports the decision of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deny a request that would permit over-the-counter (OTC) sales of certain handheld Doppler ultrasound fetal listening devices, also referred to as Doppler “fetoscopes.”

The FDA conducted a public meeting on March 29, 2006, to discuss the issue in response to a petition for OTC use filed in June 2004. Representatives from the AIUM attended the session and provided both their input and opposition to the petition. AIUM President Lennard Greenbaum, MD, stated that the “AIUM strongly discourages the nonmedical use of ultrasound, and although there are no confirmed biological effects on patients caused by exposure from present diagnostic ultrasound incidents, the possibility exists that such biological effects may be identified in the future.” AIUM Bioeffects Committee Chair Jacques Abramowicz, MD, and AIUM President- Elect Joshua Copel, MD, presented the AIUM’s scientific findings, concluding that caution should be exercised in using these devices, emphasizing adherence to the ALARA or “as low as reasonably achievable” principle. In addition, they thought there was no clear benefit to the consumer from OTC availability of handheld fetal Doppler devices.

Doppler fetoscopes are currently available by prescription for home use, usually in cases involving high-risk pregnancies. In its letter declining the petition, the FDA stated its belief that “the available scientific literature and the consensus of the scientific community substantiate the current regulatory status of these devices, which provides access for home use when the mother and her physician decide such monitoring is indicated.”

CMS Releases RFP for New Medicare Administrative Contractors

Move Aimed At Improved Services to Beneficiaries, Providers, and Suppliers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Sept. 29, 2006 released a Request for Proposal (RFP) for new Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) that will streamline the processes to pay Medicare claims and answer providers’ questions about Medicare payments for services.

This RFP is for three of 15 separate contracts that will be issued as part of the Medicare contracting reform created by the Medicare Modernization Act. Under these improvements, Medicare will continue its move from a network of Part A fiscal intermediaries who process claims for hospitals and other institutional providers, and Part B carriers who process claims for physicians, laboratories, and other suppliers to one that will combine responsibility for both Part A and Part B claims. This will allow for a greater coordination of claims processing when a beneficiary receives services in different settings. For providers, this will also mean having one place to go for questions about claims.

CMS expects to achieve high performance from MACs for claims administration, with the focus, through competition, on greater efficiency, innovation and outstanding performance. Together these contractors will be responsible for 23 percent of the total Medicare fee-for-service workload, comprised of claims from the following jurisdictions:

• Jurisdiction 4 – Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
• Jurisdiction 5 – Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska
• Jurisdiction 12 – Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

The RFP also contains unique requirements for specific MACs. These include:

• Jurisdiction 4 has special requirements for Indian Health Services, the Veterans Affairs Medicare Equivalent Remittance Advice, centralized billing for mass immunizers, rural community hospitals, and a chiropractic demonstration.
• Jurisdiction 5 has special requirements for rural community hospitals, a chiropractic services demonstration, and a low vision demonstration.

CMS expects to award these contracts in July 2007. CMS intends to issue a separate RFP for four other MAC jurisdictions in December 2006, and additional RFPs will be issued in 2007 for the remainder of the 15 MAC jurisdictions. CMS previously awarded an A/B MAC contract for Jurisdiction 3, covering Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Fact sheets for Jurisdictions 4, 5, and 12 along with additional information on Medicare contracting reform can be found on the Medicare contracting reform webpage at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareContractingReform/