The CME Coalition applauds U.S. Representatives Phil Roe (R-TN), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Andy Harris (R-MD), and Ami Bera (D-CA) for their introduction of a congressional resolution expressing support for the need to expand training for physicians on opioid prescribing. These four key Members of Congress — all physicians in their own right — have recognized the role of CME in the professional development of America’s physician workforce. 

As featured in a video from myCME.com, "Tom Sullivan (left) and Andy Rosenberg of the CME Coalition labored tirelessly to get CME activities to be considered Improvement Activities under MIPS. Here's what it means."

​This post was originally published as a November 28, 2017 article on Medpage Today
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BALTIMORE, Md. -- Physicians should be required to take continuing education classes on opioid prescribing in order to maintain their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) prescribing licenses, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) said Tuesday at a congressional field hearing here on the opioid crisis. ​"This drug epidemic didn't start on the street corners of Baltimore; it started in doctors' offices and hospitals across the nation," Christie, who led President Trump's commission on the opioid crisis, said at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing at Johns Hopkins Hospital. "And while some of it is done by folks who have bad intent, most is done by those with no intent. Why no intent? Because they're not educated on this issue."

​This post was originally published as a November 16, 2017 article on MeetingsNet. 

​The Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015, a congressional effort to solve the riddle of how to pay physicians under the Medicare program, does more than move what has traditionally been a fee-for-service model to a value-based model. It also just may offer some new areas of opportunities for continuing medical education.

Andy Rosenberg, senior advisor with the lobbying group the CME Coalition, laid out just what MACRA is—and why CME providers should be paying attention to it—in a recent MeetingsNet webinar. 

A proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), reflecting support from over 300 stakeholders, would reward physicians for their participation in continuing medical education (CME) activities.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrew Rosenberg, (202) 688-0223, arosenberg@thornrun.com
 
The CME Coalition applauds the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for their proposal to recognize accredited continuing medical education (CME) as a Clinical Practice Improvement Activity (CPIA) under the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) — a physician reimbursement system created by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). As detailed in the proposed rule (pg. 1042), CMS recommends that “completion of an accredited performance improving medical education program” be included under the list of CPIAs under MIPS — one of the key policy changes proposed for the Quality Payment Program Year 2.

​On Tuesday, myCME's David Azevedo caught up with Andy Rosenberg and Tom Sullivan of the CME Coalition to discuss the latest developments related to MACRA and CME . “I think there’s an openness in the government to make things easier for physicians to get credit for the work they are doing,” noted Sullivan in the interview. "If I’m going to participate in a quality improvement program, that should qualify as quality improvement.” Rosenberg went on to comment that he is “hopeful” now that CMS has opened up the process to reconsider new measures. “I’m very bullish on our long-term chances of eventually getting them to recognize a role for CME in MIPS," he said.