AAPM&R Connection E-Newsletter

We're giving away 4 mē^® gift cards worth $50 each during the month of April. All you have to do is update your member profile here, and you'll be entered in the raffle. Updating your profile is the best way to make sure you are visible in the Find a PM&R Physician tool and the Member Directory.

We've already chosen 2 winners and we still have 2 gift cards to give away! Learn more here.

Watch your Academy’s new “Ask the Author” video series from the PM&R Journal! This series further explores an author’s research and allows the PM&R Journal editors to pose questions to authors that expand upon or call out certain aspects of their research that may be of interest to viewers. Now available is the series that focuses on dry needling of myofascial trigger points. Look for additional “Ask the Author” videos—coming soon!

Your Academy is proud to offer a variety of resources for members in every stage of their career. From medical students just starting out in physiatry to mid-career physicians working in a thriving practice, your Academy has the tools and resources to position you and your practice for success in today’s changing health care landscape.

Visit www.aapmr.org and explore the Career Center page to find these resources, such as our online Job Board and a variety of helpful resources for residents and medical students.

Earn 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ with this new, complimentary activity! The REMS Playbook for Opioid Prescribing, available on the mē^® Catalog, offers education to all physicians on extended-release (ER) and long-acting (LA) opioid analgesics. This activity incorporates a fun, sports-themed learning experience with interactive modules and games. Learn more and get started.

Get the PM&R-specific coding help you need at one of AAPM&R’s Coding & Reimbursement Workshops, hosted in conjunction with KarenZupko & Associates, Inc. (KZA). You can attend one or both—and be sure to invite your coders too!

• Friday, April 29—attend ICD-10 Coding and Clinical Documentation Excellence, a course that builds on your existing ICD-10 knowledge and helps you take it to the next level.
• Saturday, April 30—the Strategic Coding & Reimbursement 2016 course will spend significant time on all aspects of E/M coding and reimbursement.

Learn more and register here.

Join us for the free Prevent Medicare Penalties: 2016 PQRS for PM&R Providers webinar on May 12 at 12 pm (CT)!

Host Marvel J. Hammer RN, BS, CPC, CCS-P, ACS-PM, CPCO, is a coding, billing, and compliance consultant, as well as an AHIMA-approved ICD-10-CM trainer. Her field of specialties include ICD-10-CM, pain management, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, addiction medicine, and occupational medicine. Share this information with your office staff and register here!

Three grant opportunities were recently posted to the Department of Health and Human Services website. Learn more here.

The Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) Spring 2016 Conference was held April 14-15 in Washington, DC. Your Academy and Liaison to the PCPI, Dr. Wickremashinge were in attendance to learn more about the PCPI’s future direction and hear from exceptional speakers on the future of MACRA. Learn more.

On January 9, 2014, CMS posted its final National Coverage Determination (NCD 150.13) covering percutaneous image-guided lumbar decompression (PILD) for beneficiaries with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) when provided in a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical study meeting certain conditions under the Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) determination. CMS has received a complete formal request for a reconsideration of the January 9, 2014 PILD NCD, which limits coverage to prospective, randomized, controlled clinical studies. Learn more.