April 4
IN THIS ISSUE / APRIL 4, 2018
- Deadline approaching: Review your Sunshine Act info
- New Medicare card transition to begin this month
- FDA seeks methods to improve biosimilar pathway
- iPLEDGE REMS program website experiencing issues
- Wife of Surgeon General undergoing surgery for recurrent metastatic melanoma
- New: Guidelines for evaluating hirsutism
- Does weight affect onychomycosis risk?
Deadline approaching: Review your Sunshine Act info
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is readying the next batch of Sunshine Act data for public viewing. Through the Open Payments program — also known as the Sunshine Act — CMS publishes information about the financial relationships between drug and device manufacturers and health care providers. Physicians have until May 15 to review and dispute the 2017 data that manufacturers and group purchasing organizations have submitted about them through the program. Physicians can review their data by setting up an account and logging into the Open Payments website. Visit the CMS website for more information.
The Open Payments program represents the recent push to increase transparency in health care. While physicians are provided the opportunity to review their data and dispute it before the information goes live, some may be concerned that the reported information has the potential to be misinterpreted. Read more about the effects of data divorced from context in Dermatology World.
Related Links:
- Big data, big changes: How the age of information is changing patient care, physician payment, and much more – Dermatology World (February 2016)
- Dollars or donuts? Sunshine Act requirements bring new scrutiny to physicians’ relationships with pharmaceutical companies – Dermatology World (June 2013)
- AADA Practice Management Center: DataDerm™
New Medicare card transition to begin this month
Starting this month, CMS will begin replacing the Social Security number-based Health Insurance Claim Number (HICN) with a Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) on the new Medicare cards. CMS will only accept claims with the MBI listed starting Dec. 31, 2019. During the transition period, CMS will accept either the HICN or the MBI for CMS claim adjudication.
Are you ready for the new Medicare cards? Take the quiz in Dermatology World. Need help preparing for the switch? Check out this month’s issue of Dermatology World for tools you can use.
Related Links:
- Cyber hacking in health care – Dermatology World (February 2018)
- How safe is your information? – Dermatology World (December 2017)
- Get smart: Digital devices in dermatology – Dermatology World (July 2017)
- Cybersecurity: Are you at risk of being hacked? – Dermatology World (April 2015)
- Academy product: Principles of Documentation for Dermatology, First Edition
- Academy product: 2018 Coding and Billing for Dermatology
- Academy product: Guide to HIPAA and HITECH for Dermatology Manual
FDA seeks methods to improve biosimilar pathway
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working on a handful of policies that could increase biosimilar approvals, said Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, at a recent speaking engagement. Specifically, Dr. Gottlieb said the agency is currently looking at a policy that would make it more difficult for manufacturers of brand-name biologics to alter their drugs in an effort to extend the drug patents.
As more revolutionary biologic treatments come on the scene, the medical world has been eyeing up biosimilars as a potential option for many conditions. However, some manufacturers have secured multiple patents on their drugs making it challenging for competitors to enter the market. Additionally, the jury is still out on whether biosimilars will ultimately be a cheaper option for patients. Read more about whether biosimilars are the silver bullet for the growing cost of drugs in Dermatology World.
Related Links:
- Ripe for the picking – Dermatology World (September 2015)
- Battling for biologics: The impact of biosimilars (sidebar) – Dermatology World (September 2015)
- The promise and pitfalls of biosimilars – Dermatology World (June 2013)
iPLEDGE REMS program website experiencing issues
The American Academy of Dermatology Association has learned that REMs program website users have been experiencing issues logging on to the iPLEDGE program site. The iPLEDGE REMS Program website underwent maintenance in March and has been experiencing issues with the system following launch. Additionally, stakeholders have been calling the contact center in high volumes, which has resulted in long wait times. The iPLEDGE sponsors and vendor are aware of the problems and are working to resolve them.
Wife of Surgeon General undergoing surgery for recurrent metastatic melanoma
Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, has announced that his wife is undergoing surgery for recurrent metastatic melanoma at the National Institutes of Health. Read more about the biologics that are making headway against metastatic melanoma in Dermatology World.
Related Links:
- Warning: Potential unfulfilled – Have cost, class labeling, and patient fear prevented biologics from helping as many psoriasis patients as they could? – Dermatology World (September 2015)
- When does melanoma in situ need to be upstaged? – Dermatology World (February 2016)
- Do dysplastic nevi predict melanoma risk? – Dermatology World (January 2016)
New: Guidelines for evaluating hirsutism
The Endocrine Society has updated its clinical practice guidelines for evaluating hirsutism in premenopausal women. The previous guidelines ― published in 2008 ― recommended testing serum total testosterone concentration in women with moderate to severe hirsutism. However, the new guidelines recommend that testing include all women with hirsutism. Additionally, the society does not recommend testing eumenorrheic women with unwanted local hair growth for elevated androgen levels, indicating that there is a low probability of finding a medical disorder that would alter the patient’s care.
Skin conditions such as acne and hirsutism are often cutaneous manifestations of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). While these dermatologic conditions are not necessarily tied to metabolic syndrome, researchers believe that PCOS is. Read more about the link between metabolic syndrome and dermatologic disease in Dermatology World.
Related Links:
- What advice should dermatologists give psoriasis patients about CV risk? – Dermatology World (March 2017)
- Are HS patients at increased risk for CV events? – Dermatology World (February 2017)
- Academy resource: Practical Approaches to Assessing Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Patients in Clinic
Does weight affect onychomycosis risk?
According to a study published in JAAD, weight can affect a patient’s risk of developing onychomycosis. Researchers analyzed data from the Korean National Health Insurance System and found that the incidence rate of onychomycosis was 21.04 out of 1,000 patients with a normal weight and 28.12 out of 1,000 among overweight patients. Additionally, the researchers found that patients who gained weight and remained overweight after four years had a higher risk of developing onychomycosis when compared to patients who stayed at a normal weight over a four-year period.
What do you do if a patient presents with a fungal nail infection? Check out Dermatology World for more on treating and diagnosing onychomycosis.
Related Links:
- Nail that code – Dermatology World (December 2016)
- Dermoscopy's expanding universe – Dermatology World (January 2016)
- Take a pill! New small molecule drugs make big splash: Nail psoriasis – Dermatology World (April 2016)
- Academy resource: Essentials of Pediatric Dermatology module
- Academy resource: Simulated Patient Encounters activities
