Pay Increased for DXA
Starting June 1, Medicare is increasing payments for dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry services. With the increase, DXA payments will be slightly less than 70% of what they were in 2006, when Congress first mandated payment cuts. The current increase is required under the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The act increased payments for 2010 and 2011 and called for a study of the impact of past payment reductions. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that procedures performed between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2010, will be retroactively paid at the higher rates, but details on handling those claims are still being worked out, according to the American College of Rheumatology. The college, which praised the increased DXA payment, estimates that the nonfacility fee for CPT code 77080 will rise from the current $45.21 to $97.92. The same service was paid at $143.32 in 2006.
Osteoporosis Screening Increases
The percentage of women aged 65 and older who are being screened for osteoporosis has risen dramatically, from 34% to 64% in 2001-2006, according to new data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The increase occurred among all racial, ethnic, and income groups. However, the rise was the most pronounced among white and Hispanic women. Black women on Medicare had a screening increase from 16% to 38%.
Women Hear More About Lupus
Efforts to educate women about lupus through the media may be working, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the Ad Council and the Department of Health and Human Services. In an online survey of more than 400 women without lupus (aged 18-44 years) 15% said they had recently heard, seen, or read something about lupus, compared with 10% in 2009. Officials at the Ad Council and HHS have been working to raise awareness of lupus among young, minority women for the past year. “When we started this campaign, we faced a very limited awareness and knowledge about lupus among women at greatest risk,” Frances E. Ashe-Goins, acting director of the Office on Women's Health at HHS, said in a statement.
NIH OKs 13 Stem Cell Lines
Officials at the National Institutes of Health have approved an additional 13 human embryonic stem cell lines for federal funding. The lines have also been added to the NIH Stem Cell Registry. The registry now includes 64 stem cell lines that are eligible for federal funding. Another 100 lines are pending approval at NIH. Four of the recently approved stem cell lines were originally approved under the Bush administration, and two of them were widely used by researchers over the years, said the NIH. NIH Director Francis S. Collins said the approval of these older lines should provide reassurance to researchers who have been working with lines developed earlier. “Scientists can continue their studies without interruption, and we can all be assured that valuable work will not be lost,” Dr. Collins said in a statement. In March 2009, President Obama issued an executive order removing some previous barriers to federal funding of stem cell research.
Providers Asked to Find 'Bad Ads'
The FDA has launched a program to get health care providers to detect and report misleading drug ads. The “Bad Ad” program seeks to educate health care providers about their role in ensuring that prescription drug advertising is truthful and not misleading, the agency said. Initially, FDA officials will meet with providers at selected medical conventions and will partner with a handful of medical groups to distribute educational materials. The agency said it will then expand its collaborations with medical societies. The announcement encouraged health care professionals to report any potential violation in drug promotion by sending an e-mail to
Health Information Grants Set
Fifteen communities are splitting about $220 million in grant money from the DHHS to build their health information technology infrastructures and capabilities. The Beacon Community grants provide funding to “communities at the cutting edge of electronic health record adoption and health information exchange,” the HHS said. For example, Delta Health Alliance in Stoneville, Miss., received about $14 million to electronically link systems for care management, medication therapy, and patient education in diabetes, whereas the Indiana Health Information Exchange in Indianapolis—the largest health information exchange in the country—received about $16 million to improve cholesterol and blood sugar control in diabetic patients and to reduce hospital readmissions through telemonitoring. The program is intended to demonstrate the advantages of health information technology to other communities.