Inside this Issue:

• 2022-2023 Board Election Results
• 2022 Annual Conference Registration Live
• Patient ID Week
• Patient ID Now Coalition Disappointed Congress Continues to Include Rider to Stifle Progress on Patient Identification
• CMS Proposes $1.6B Increase in IPPS Payment Rates for FY23
• The Graveyard of Interoperability Initiatives in the Past & How We Can Drive the Future
• AMA Announces CPT Codes for Potential COVID-19 Boosters
• Be Sure to “Like” Us on Facebook
• Job Board
• Register For Our On-Demand Sessions Online

2022-2023 Board Election Results

I am happy to announce that our 2022-2023 Board has been elected.  We will be appointing a 2nd year delegate with a volunteer that has served on the Board before.  This is because Dr. Haney will be our President-Elect moving forward and will not be serving out his term as the 2nd year delegate.

Please join me in congratulating our wonderful volunteers.  We look forward to see them at this year's annual conference in Hattiesburg on June 9th and 10th.  Congratulations to you all!

President:  Ashley Stanford

President-Elect:  Dr. Jude Haney

Past President:  Jeanette Taylor

Secretary / Treasurer:  Ketyra Clayton

2nd Year Delegate:  OPEN

1st Year Delegate:  Mallory Pennington

Nominating Committee:  Enid Robateau, Devoskiea Poole, Kenyanti Haney

Central Liaison:  Win Winstead

Northern Liaison:  Lori Little

Southern Liaison:  Alicia Harris

2022 Annual Conference Registration Live

Patient ID Week

Patient ID Week will be held during May 9-13. 

• We will be focusing on the following themes on social media each day of Patient ID Week. Starting now, think about if your CSA can add to the conversation relating to any of these themes, or reach out to members to see if they have data, stories, or information to share relating to the themes!
   
  • Patient ID Week will highlight how the lack of a national strategy to address patient identification affects:
    • Monday: Health equity
    • Tuesday: Patient care
    • Wednesday: Administrative Burden and Cost to the Health System
    • Thursday: Privacy and Security
    • Friday: Public Health

• Make sure you follow @AHIMAResources and @PatientIDN on Twitter to amplify those messages during the week. Also encourage your members to follow these accounts!
   
• Ask your members to share their stories on AHIMA’s Action Center about how patient identification issues affect them, their work, or someone they know.
   
• Also keep an eye out for a campaign we will send closer to the week to write their members of Congress asking for support to repeal Section 510 from the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Patient ID Now Coalition Disappointed Congress Continues to Include Rider to Stifle Progress on Patient Identification

Patient ID Now, a coalition of leading healthcare organizations, is disappointed that today the U.S. Congress reinserted a long-outdated rider in its final version of the fiscal year 2022 (FY22) budget that stifles innovation around patient identification. The rider was removed earlier in the appropriations process in both the US House of Representatives’ Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, as well as the US Senate’s draft Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Despite bipartisan support—led by Representative Bill Foster (D-IL) and Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA)—for the removal of Section 510 in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, the rider once again was included in the federal budget, continuing its suppression of progress towards addressing the dire issue of patient misidentification within the US healthcare system. A narrow interpretation of Section 510 over the past two decades has hindered the ability to create a national strategy on patient identification and matching, endangering patient safety and privacy, and increasing the cost burden to both patients and the healthcare system.

CMS Proposes $1.6B Increase in IPPS Payment Rates for FY23

CMS has released its Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule for fiscal year 2023, which includes a payment rate boost for general acute care hospitals and new measures focused on health equity for the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) program.

General acute care hospitals that receive reimbursement through the IPPS and participate in the Hospital IQR program will see a 3.2 percent increase in payment rates. This reflects a projected 3.1 percent hospital market basket update, a 0.4 percentage point reduction for productivity adjustment, and a 0.5 percentage point increase for adjustment required by statute.

The proposed update will increase hospital payments by $1.6 billion in FY 2023, CMS said.

The Graveyard of Interoperability Initiatives in the Past & How We Can Drive the Future

AMA Announces CPT Codes for Potential COVID-19 Boosters

The American Medical Association (AMA) has updated the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set to include CPT codes for two COVID-19 booster candidates from Pfizer and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline (Sanofi-GSK).

The Pfizer booster is proposed for children between the ages of 5 and 11 years who have received their primary COVID-19 vaccine series. The Sanofi-GSK booster is proposed for people aged 18 years and older who have received their initial COVID-19 vaccine series.

While the booster candidates have yet to receive Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA, AMA has published the CPT code updates to ensure that electronic systems and healthcare providers are prepared for potential authorization. The CPT codes will be effective for use only if the boosters receive EUA, the press release noted.

Be Sure to “Like” Us on Facebook

Job Board

Register For Our On-Demand Sessions Online