CMS has finalized payment rules for 2020, dropping a controversial coding change in the Physician Fee Schedule and a proposal to force hospitals to publicly disclose their standard pricing.

The White House announced on Friday, Nov. 1, that it’s nominating Stephen Hahn, MD, a trained radiation oncologist, as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. 

Concerns stem from CMS’ plan to boost reimbursement for care-related Evaluation and Management (E/M) by about $5 billion. 

Other countries are targeting and stealing confidential scientific research from U.S. institutions and academic centers, according to a report from The New York Times.

Large employers are looking at virtual care and other options to help lower the costs of employee benefits. 

A group of five researchers looked at the relationship between studies read by radiology trainees during their residency and first-time performance on the ABR Core Examination, sharing their findings in Academic Radiology.

Neurosurgery is the medical specialty with the highest average annual compensation, according to the 2019 Physician Compensation Report from Doximity, which draws on responses from nearly 90,000 licensed U.S. doctors over six years.

With the announcement, the AMA will add two category III CPT codes to report “wound bacterial localization and treatment” beginning July 1 of next year.