Get your CEs before the New Year! Enhance your career online over the holidays by taking conference sessions you may have missed at CMSA’s annual conference, the foremost event designed to deliver clinical, professional, and personal growth to case management professionals across the health care spectrum.

Extended Conference provides a cloud-based solution to obtain knowledge from industry thought leaders via online sessions at your own pace. Gain immediate access to the sessions you need for continuing education credits and meet your professional goals as well as the requirements of their employer, professional association, and credentialing and licensing boards.

The CMSA awards program was established to pay special tribute to those individuals or organizations that have demonstrated distinguished service to the case management profession or association management. 

Each year several individuals, chapters, and organizations are recognized at CMSA’s Annual Conference. Those awards include:

•  Case Manager of the Year (CMOY) - Deadline: Feb. 14

•  Award of Service Excellence (AOSE) - Deadline: Feb. 14

•  Chapter Excellence and Innovation Awards (CEIA) - Deadline: Feb. 14
   **New: Award of Excellence for Chapter Revitalization
   **View all categories at cmsa.org/awards

•  Case Management Research Award (CMRA) - Deadline: March 15

•  Case Management Practice Improvement Award (CMPI) - Deadline: March 15

Visit www.cmsa.org/awards to learn more about the awards and nominations process.

CMAG addresses medication and treatment adherence as defined by WHO as being one of the primary reasons for readmissions and emergency room visits. The information and tools presented in this edition serve the professional care management community as the standard by which case managers can advance assistance, coaching, and monitoring efforts with the goal of ultimately improving care delivery and patient outcomes. CMSA has made medication adherence a strategic initiative since 2004, as part of its central mission to be the trusted source of resources that support and enable the professional growth of care managers. Given the key leadership role of case managers in the provision, transfer and coordination of patient information and treatment, CMSA is invested in providing educational materials like CMAG which enable case managers to be more effective in improving care quality.

Learn more, and access your copy at www.cmsa.org/cmag.

On October 31, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Final Rule, which establishes payment levels and policy changes for Medicare Part B services. In the Final Rule, CMS states that beginning on January 1, 2015, it will pay for non-face-to-face chronic care management services, including the ongoing development and revisions of care plans, communication with other treating providers, and medication management.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposal to strengthen the Shared Savings Program for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) through a greater emphasis on primary care services and promoting transitions to performance-based risk arrangements. The proposed rule reflects input from program participants, experts, consumer groups, and the stakeholder community at large. CMS is seeking to continue this important dialogue to ensure that the Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs are successful in providing seniors and people with disabilities with better care at lower costs.

The need to share patient information with other providers and the use of financial incentives are key drivers in why many providers adopt and use health information technology tools like electronic health records (EHRs), according a data brief released from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

Join CMSA for an epic celebration in June 2015, as case managers from around the globe descend upon Orlando to celebrate 25 years of case management growth and advancement as an essential health care practice.