Letter to Congress Opposing Cuts to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule | September 10, 2024
CHEST signed a letter urging Congress to ensure that Medicare payments to clinicians in 2025 and beyond are adjusted each year with an inflationary update.
Supporting Timely Access to Care for Seniors | August 9, 2024
CHEST endorses the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the prior authorization process.
Advocating for Extension of Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Support | April 24, 2024
CHEST formally supports two pieces of legislation that would retain existing coverage for pulmonary rehabilitation and help meet the increasing demand for these beneficial treatments.
Urging Changes to Proposed Critical Care Billing Policy | February 6, 2024
CHEST urges CMS to revert to its pre-2022 billing policy for critical care codes 99291 and 99292.
Urging Congress to Reverse Medicare Payment Cuts | January 23, 2024
CHEST joined the American Medical Association in urging Congress to reverse the decision to cut Medicare physician fees by 3.37% in 2024.
Accurately representing the complications and impact of delirium | November 29, 2023
CHEST endorsed the need to make a key change to the designation of delirium that recognizes it as a major complication or comorbidity.
Reforming Budget Neutrality Policies in Medicare Physician Payment Levels | October 31, 2023
Alongside national medical organizations and state medical societies, CHEST signed on a letter in support of a drafted proposal to reform budget-neutrality policies.
Joint CHEST/ATS ICD-10 Comment Letter | October 12, 2023
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society sent comments on coding proposals to be considered at the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting. The comments addressed the assignment of unique diagnostic codes for both cement and fat pulmonary emboli, as distinct from other forms of emboli (eg, thrombotic or air emboli), among other code updates.
Reflecting PCCM concerns in CMS reimbursement plan | September 28, 2023
In a formal letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, CHEST and the American Thoracic Society provided comments on the Calendar Year 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule. The recommendations serve to reflect the needs of Medicare beneficiaries with various disorders of the lung.
Comments on CY 2024 Medicare HOPPS and ASC Payment System Proposed Rule | September 11, 2023
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society submitted shared comments on the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and the Medicare Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System Proposed Rule for Calendar Year 2024.
Comments to CMS on SEP-1 in FY2024 IPPS/LTCH PPS Proposed Rule | June 9, 2023
CHEST sent comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services expressing strong support regarding the adoption of the Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Early Management Bundle – commonly known as “SEP-1” – into CMS's hospital value-based purchasing program, as was recommended in the FY2024 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) Proposed Rule.
ATS/CHEST Comments on ICD-10 Prone Positioning Codes | April 24, 2023
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society expressed gratitude for the inclusion of the new ICD-10-PCS codes capturing prone positioning of intubated patients in the FY2024 Proposed Rule documents.
Strengthening Medicare for patients and providers | April 20, 2023
CHEST joined the American Medical Association in commending the US House of Representatives for introducing H.R. 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act.
Letter to Cigna on Correct Use of Modifier 25 | April 18, 2023
CHEST joined the American Medical Association in pushing back on a Cigna policy that will increase the administrative burden on physicians for routine care and put new barriers on patients in need of timely diagnoses and access to treatment.
Joining the AMA to encourage survey compliance for accurate data | April 17, 2023
CHEST joined the American Medical Association, along with over 170 health care organizations, in undertaking a national study to capture an accurate and complete representation of current practice expenses.
ATS/CHEST Comments on ICD-10 Coding Proposals | April 5, 2023
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society provided feedback on coding proposals that were considered at the March 2023 ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting. The proposals covered insufficient social insurance and welfare support, participation in the Persian Gulf theater of war, classification of obesity, post-exertional malaise/post-exertional symptom exacerbation, sepsis aftercare, and genetic disorders.
Letters Supporting Funding for CDC Office on Smoking and Health in FY 2024 Budget (House letter and Senate letter) | March 16, 2023
CHEST joined several organizations in urging House and Senate appropriations subcommittees to increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health by $63.5 million, for a total of $310 million, in the FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.
CHEST Joins Plea to Pass Legislation for Annual Inflation-Based Physician Payment Increases | March 15, 2023
CHEST joined the American Medical Association in urging Congress to provide physicians with an annual inflation-based payment update.
Urging CMS to Finalize Prior Authorization Reform | February 13, 2023
CHEST joined the American Medical Association, along with over 100 health care organizations, to urge the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to strengthen its prior authorization reform effort.
Joint ATS/CHEST Comments to CMS on ICD-10 Codes | October 14, 2022
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society sent comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on coding proposals to be considered at the March 2023 ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting, including proposals related to intubated prone positioning, bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, and social determinants of health.
Comments on Anthem/Elevance Insurance Coverage of Navigational Bronchoscopy | October 4, 2022
CHEST joined with the American Association of Bronchology & Interventional Pulmonology and the American Thoracic Society to express concern over Anthem/Elevance's medical policy stating that “navigational bronchoscopy is considered investigational and not medically necessary for all applications.” Following this letter, Anthem/Elevance overturned their policy and now deems navigational bronchoscopy as medically necessary.
AMA Sign-on Letter Regarding Medicare Physician Payments | September 22, 2022
CHEST signed onto a letter from the American Medical Association and dozens of other medical societies expressing concerns about the mounting financial instability of the Medicare physician payment system.
Letter to CMS on CY 2023 HOPPS | September 12, 2022
CHEST joined the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, the American Association for Respiratory Care, and the American Thoracic Society to comment on payment changes to pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
ATS/CHEST Comments to CMS on Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2023 | September 6, 2022
CHEST and the American Thoracic Society submitted shared comments on several aspects of the proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2023, including rate setting and the Medicare conversion factor, practice expense data collection, evaluation and management (E/M) visits, and more.
Letter to CMS on Practice Expense Survey Requirements | September 6, 2022
CHEST and several medical societies provided feedback to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention regarding the design, sampling, and fielding of a potential future practice expense survey.
Letter to CMS on CY 2023 Physician Fee Schedule | August 24, 2022
CHEST joined several pulmonary organizations and patient advocacy groups to comment on the safety and effectiveness of direct supervision through virtual presence as it relates to cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
ICD-10 Code for Prone Positioning | June 10, 2022
CHEST and nine other groups submitted a letter to the US House of Representatives and the Senate voicing the critical need to prioritize the immunocompromised population as additional COVID-19 relief funds are considered.
ICD-10 Code for Sepsis Aftercare | June 7, 2022
CHEST, along with other members of the Critical Care Societies Collaborative, sent a letter strongly supporting a proposal for a new ICD-10-CM code, "Z51.2 – Encounter for Sepsis Aftercare." The societies noted that this code will improve public health by identifying a growing population of sepsis survivors and facilitating provision of relevant clinical services to reduce the well-known, health-related risks in postacute care settings.
SEP-1 protocol to manage severe sepsis and septic shock | April 25, 2022
Based on a long-standing commitment to reducing death and disability resulting from delayed early sepsis care, CHEST, together with the Society for Critical Care Medicine, issued a letter to the National Quality Forum regarding #0500 (SEP-1) measure - Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock: Management Bundle.
CMS urged to rescind APP split/shared policy | April 11, 2022
A letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requests that the agency not move forward with the billing policy updates to split/shared visits (between physicians and advanced practice providers) set to take effect in 2023.
Request to extend telehealth services issued to Congress | March 10, 2022
A letter to members of Congress urges expanded telehealth services as a method of health care delivery that may enhance the patient-physician relationship, improve health outcomes, increase access to care, and reduce medical costs when used as a component of a patient's longitudinal care.
CHEST asks Congress to extend a 3.75% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payment adjustment | December 9, 2021
CHEST and 280 other state and national associations came together to ask members of Congress to extend a 3.75% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule payment adjustment through calendar year 2022.
CHEST and ATS advocate for Medicare physician fees to improve access to care | September 20, 2021
In response to the 2022 Physician Fee Schedule proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Joint Clinical Practice Committee, comprised of leaders from the CHEST and the American Thoracic Society, formally submitted comments and suggested edits to the proposal.
Joint CHEST/ATS Comments to CMS on Proposed 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule | October 5, 2020
CHEST and ATS submitted comments to help CMS craft the final 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule.
Position Statement for Coverage and Payment for Bronchial Thermoplasty | May 12, 2014
Bronchial thermoplasty offers treatment for patients with severe asthma who continue to be symptomatic despite maximal medical treatment. We believe the literature supports bronchial thermoplasty as a therapeutic option for patients with severe asthma.