New from National NASW

Promoting Adherence with Cancer Oral Medications:

The Social Worker’s Role

NASW and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) have collaborated to produce an NASW WebEd education course for social workers on adherence in cancer oral medication treatment (http://www.naswwebed.org/ ). This online curriculum will increase understanding of cancer oral medication adherence, the considerations and challenges involved, and the role of social work in promoting adherence.  The course is intended for social workers across all practice settings.   The prevalence of cancer in the U.S. (one in two men and one in three women in the U.S. will receive a cancer diagnosis in his or her lifetime) suggests that all social workers will engage with individuals affected by cancer and will find this information useful. This Web-based course is estimated to take two hours and will provide 2.0 free CEUs to social workers who complete the course and pass the exam.  Execs may contact Stacy Collins with questions at scollins@naswdc.org

National Awards Nominations are Open

The nomination deadline for the 2010 NASW Foundation and NASW National Awards is August 6, 2010.

This year, nominations for the NASW Foundation and the NASW recognition awards which includes the Knee Wittman, Sarnat, Social Worker of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Public Elected Official and Public Citizen of  the Year must be submitted online. Instructions  for submitting online nominations are coming soon.

You may refer to the award guidelines for eligibility criteria and nomination requirements.  For information on the NASW Foundation awards, please follow this link: (http://www.naswfoundation.org/recognition/default.asp ).  To access information on the NASW awards, click on this link (http://www.socialworkers.org/governance/awards/default.asp ).

Congress Passes Bill Protecting Medicare Practitioners from Imminent Fee Cut More Info
CMS to Resume Processing April Claims

Last evening, April 15, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "Continuing Extension Act of 2010." The new law extends through May 31, 2010 the zero percent update to the Medicare "Physician" Fee Schedule (MPFS) which was in effect for claims with dates of service from Jan. 1, 2010, through March 31, 2010. The new law is retroactive to April 1, 2010 and will remain in force until the end of May. Without this new stopgap measure, physicians, clinical social workers and other health professionals that bill Medicare Part B independently faced a scheduled rate cut of 21 percent on claims for service delivered after April 1.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed Medicare contractors to immediately resume processing claims under the new law for services provided by physicians, and non-physician practitioners (NPPs) such as clinical social workers, who are paid under the MPFS. Most claims with dates of service April 1 and later were held by Medicare in anticipation of yesterday's congressional action. If Congress had not acted, payment rates for claims occurring after April 1, by practitioners who are paid under the MPFS would have been reduced by 21 percent, as required by a formula specified in the Medicare law.

The Medicare MPFS cut was originally scheduled to go into effect for claims paid on or after Jan. 1, 2010, but it was first postponed until March 1 by a provision in the Defense Appropriations Act of 2009, and again until April 1, in the Temporary Extenders Act of 2010. This latest Act extends last year's payment levels until the end of next month, May 31, at which time Congress plans to again have reached agreement on a longer-term formula solution. For background information on this matter, please see NASW's website here.