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August 2, 2005
Coinciding with "Health Week" on Capitol Hill, ASCO held its 2005 Legislative Conference in Washington DC, last week. The Legislative Conference brought together ASCO members from across the country with the leading policy makers who work on Medicare, quality cancer, and drug safety initiatives.
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July 13, 2005
Congressional leaders have dedicated the week of July 25-29 as
"Health Week," in an effort to address health policy issues and move forward key pieces of legislation in the House and Senate. During this week, which coincides with ASCO's Legislative Conference, Congressional leaders will be focusing on and debating a variety of health policy issues.
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July 7, 2005
As we informed you last week, on June 27, CMS issued an interim final rule on the CAP program entitled "Competitive Acquisition of Outpatient Drugs and Biologicals Under Part B." What follows are some initial details about the CAP rule:
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June 20, 2005
As we progress toward 2006, our primary focus is to ensure that we can continue to provide quality cancer care to our patients. A key way we can accomplish this is to urge CMS to extend the oncology demonstration project, which provides reimbursement to practices for reporting quality care information on their patients’ conditions.
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May 27, 2005
You may notice a change in our communications to you over the next weeks and months. We have changed the title from “MMA Today” to “Medicare & Quality Care Update” to better reflect the range of issues on which we will provide you with regular updates. Of course, MMA will still be the focus of our outreach and communications initiatives.
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May 9, 2005
This week Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX) circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter to his fellow House Representatives, urging them to co-sponsor House Resolution 261 to ensure quality cancer care. The "Dear Colleague" letter specifically references involvement by ASCO, patient advocates, and others in the cancer community in CMS’s demonstration project that provides resources to assess the side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients.
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April 12, 2005
As part of ASCO’s initiative to further develop and build a nationwide grassroots advocacy network, ASCO will hold a Legislative Conference on July 26-27 in Washington, DC. Through the conference, ASCO will provide you with the tools and resources you need to communicate, educate and build a long-term relationship with your elected officials.
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March 24, 2005
Earlier this week, you received an email from ASCO President David H. Johnson, MD, encouraging you to become part of ASCO’s Grassroots Advocacy Network. I would like to add my voice to urge you to participate in this important initiative as well.
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March 9, 2005
Over the past two months, ASCO has solicited information from you about your implementation problems during this transition to the new Medicare coding system. ASCO has brought your issues to the attention of CMS and the Medicare carriers and has been working with them to resolve many of the problems.We know and appreciate that many of you have also worked with the carriers and CMS on these same issues.
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February 18, 2005
CMS Looking for Information on Underwater Drugs
Recently, CMS contacted ASCO, seeking information from ASCO's membership on "underwater" drugs - drugs for which the cost to your practice is more than the Medicare payment rate.
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