News Express

AANEM Comments on 2024 Proposed Update to Physician Fee Schedule & QPP

September 15, 2023

On August 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its annual proposed rule that includes updates to payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule effective on or after January 1, 2024. AANEM staff drafted and submitted a 7-page comment letter that addressed all pertinent aspects of the 2,000+ page proposed rule, including calling on CMS to do everything in its power to avert drastic cuts to physician payments.

Patient Safety: Assessing Fall Risk

September 15, 2023

Falls are a major cause of injury-related morbidity and disability leading to significant healthcare cost and impaired health. Learn how to assess fall risk in EDX laboratory.

Coding and Billing With the New Neuromuscular Ultrasound CPT Code

April 26, 2023

This article takes a deep dive into the new NMUS code, 76883, discussing when it is appropriate to bill and when it is more appropriate to use the previously existing extremity US codes, the clinical documentation required, and specific clinical scenarios.

Patient Safety: Percutaneous Sharp Injuries: Post-Exposure Procedures

March 19, 2023

From the AANEM Quality and Patient Safety Committee: Many healthcare workers, including some of 64% of electrodiagnostic (EDX) physicians who may have experienced a needlestick injury, are unfamiliar with proper post-exposure procedures following percutaneous sharp injury, leading to a greater risk of blood-borne pathogen seroconversion. Read more to learn about the proper post-exposure process.

AANEM Endorsement of the 2023 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for Cardiac Amyloidosis

February 05, 2023

AANEM has recently endorsed the 2023 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Expert Consensus Decision Pathway for Cardiac Amyloidosis which became available online Monday, January 23, 2023 with the print copy published in the JACC print issue on March 21.

CMS Finalizes Updates to Physician Fee Schedule

November 13, 2022

On November 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that includes updates to payment policies, payment rates, and quality provisions for services furnished under the Medicare Physician Payment Schedule effective January 1, 2023. AANEM policy staff is diligently reviewing the 3,000+ page rule. Read on for highlights.

Patient Safety: Percutaneous Sharp Injuries: Primary Prevention

October 17, 2022

Patient Safety: Percutaneous Sharp Injuries: Primary Prevention

AANEM Consensus Statement Collaboration with the Heart Rhythm Society

September 13, 2022

The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) recently published in their journal an international multidisciplinary document titled 2022 HRS Expert Consensus Statement on Evaluation and Management of Arrhythmic Risk in Neuromuscular Disorders that AANEM is pleased to have collaborated on. This document is intended to guide electrophysiologists, cardiologists, other clinicians, and health care professionals in caring for patients with arrhythmic complications of neuromuscular disorders (NMDs).

Patient Safety: Statins and Immune-Mediated Necrotizing Myopathy

February 20, 2022

A 66 year old man with hypothyroidism is referred for an evaluation of severe muscle pain and proximal leg weakness which started shortly after initiating simvastatin treatment. What is most helpful to differentiate a toxic necrotizing myopathy from an immune mediated necrotizing myopathy?

Patient Safety: NM Complications of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

October 05, 2021

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI’s) are monoclonal antibodies that target the immune checkpoints programmed death 1 (PD1), programmed death ligand 1 (PDL-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) on T cells and promote immune mediated destruction of cancer cells. They are used to treat a variety of cancers including breast, bladder, cervical, colon, lung cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, melanoma, etc. ICPI treatment is associated with an array of immune related adverse events affecting many organ systems. Neurologic adverse events have also been reported.

Practice: CMS Releases Proposed Updates to Physician Fee Schedule and the Quality Payment Program

August 18, 2021

AANEM policy staff is diligently reviewing the 1,700+ page rule that was issued by the CMS on July 13, 2021. Here are a few highlights from the proposal. 
 

Patient Safety: Safety of DOACs in Needle EMG

June 28, 2021

Limited data is available regarding the risk of bleeding with EMG in patients taking DOACs. One small retrospective study looked at the risk of bleeding after EMG in this patient population and in those taking warfarin, using ultrasound of studied muscles. Nine patients out of the 58 included had hemorrhagic complications, six of which were classified as clinically relevant non-major bleeding and three as asymptomatic bleeding, with a higher incidence of hemorrhage in the DOAC group as compared to the warfarin group. No cases of major bleeding were found.
 

Patient Safety: EMG/NCS and Risk of Bleeding

March 30, 2021

Electrodiagnostic testing (needle electromyography) in patients with bleeding diathesis is associated with greater risk of bleeding when compared to general population. It is recommended that caution should be used when deciding on electrodiagnostic testing in patients with platelet counts less than 50,000 and INR greater than 1.5-2.0.

COVID-19 Vaccine: AANEM Publishes Guidance for Patients with NMDs

January 14, 2021

At the end of 2020, with announcement of the impending approval of not one but two vaccines against COVID-19, AANEM staff faced a sudden influx of phone calls and emails from members, nonmember physicians, and even some NM patients inquiring about the safety of such vaccines for NM patients. The AANEM Quality & Patient Safety Committee quickly took up the task of researching the data available on the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as looking at the safety and efficacy of vaccines in general in this patient population.