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25th Annual Clinical Cytometry
Meeting and Course
Houston, Texas
CCS Course: October 1-3, 2010
CCS Meeting: October 3-5, 2010
Future CCS Meetings |
CCS 2011
October 14-18 2011
Portland, OR
CCS 2012
October 5-9 2012
New Orleans, LA
CCS 2013
October 11-15 2013
Fort Lauderdale, FL
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Changes in Reimbursement Practice by a US Medicare A/B Contractor
February 22, 2010
CCS Council has been recently made aware of proposed deleterious changes in reimbursement practice by a US Medicare A/B contractor, Palmetto GBA, responsible for Jurisdiction 1 (California, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam) and Jurisdiction 11 (Virginia, North and South Carolina, West Virginia). The draft proposal is LCD DL30692 and may be found here.
The features of concern in this proposal are:
- Reliance on diagnosis for determination of reimbursement, rather than medical indication
- Limit to 10 antibodies reimbursement unless diagnosis is acute leukemia or NHL
- Limit to 21 antibodies reimbursement for all diagnoses unless documentation of medical necessity is provided in both the medical record and flow cytometry report for each antibody over 21
The CCS Council has prepared a letter of response, as are the major manufacturers. All responses are to be submitted by March 1st, 2010 to Nita Collins - Nita.Collins@Palmettogba.com.
Brent Wood MD PhD
President, CCS
Thanks,
Brent Wood MD PhD
Professor, Laboratory Medicine
Director, Hematopathology Laboratory
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
E-mail: woodbl@u.washington.edu Phone:(206) 288-7117 FAX: (206) 288-7127
Update on Cytometry Certification Market Analysis
October 15, 2009
Working together, CCS and ISAC, under the sponsorship of the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, recently completed a survey of its members and other interested parties to assess the level of interest in a program of certification in cytometry. The response was outstanding—we got nearly 800 responses back, and we’d like to thank everyone who participated. The breadth of the response was impressive. Nearly half of the responses came from outside the US, with more than 50 countries represented. Respondents came from hospitals, universities, industry, and government, and included basic scientists, both translational and clinical researchers, and clinical practitioners.
The main conclusion of this survey, made not by us but by Professional Examination Services, the organization that conducted the survey, is that there is very strong support for a certification program. This support was seen both in the internationally irrespective of location and among all subgroups of people practicing cytometry in different capacities. Moreover, while the data are still being analyzed, there appears to be a core of material that all cytometrists need to know, no matter where they work or what they work on. This core body of knowledge can form the basis of a certification program.
Another point that became clear from the survey is that you as members want to see our societies involved in this effort; more than 90% of the respondents agreed with the statement that the implementation of a cytometry certification program was part of the role of ISAC and CCS. We hear you, and plan to pursue this aggressively. Our next step is to conduct what is known in the trade as a role delineation study. Over the next weeks some of you may be contacted with a request to participate in that study, which is designed to determine, in detail, what it is that cytometrists know, and what it is they do. The results of this study will allow us to put together a set of competencies that define our discipline, and then begin constructing the kind of an examination a candidate for certification would have to complete. We’ll keep you posted as this process proceeds.
Mike Borowitz, Past-President, CCS and Bob Murphy, President, ISAC
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| Cytometry News |
Check out the New Clinical Flow Cytometry Wiki There are lots of interesting cases, useful resources, and an opportunity for YOU to contribute and make it even better. Clinical Flow Cytometry Wiki
The Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society (CCAS) has opened their official society website. Click here to visit the CCAS site.
SIC & ESCCA 2010
The 6th European Course on Clinical Cytometry (September 21-22, 2010) and the 10th Euroconference on Clinical Cell Analysis (September 23-25, 2010) will be held in Valencia, Spain. Click here for the SAVE THE DATE brochure.
Neoplastic Hematopathology Update: New Insights into Old Questions
November 11-13, 2010; The Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa. For more information, please visit http://www.unmc.edu/hematopathologyupdate
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Download the ICCS e-newsletter and …
- Connect with the worldwide flow cytometry community
- Test your expertise with the Case Study Interpretation (e-CSI) challenge
- Read informative articles about issues that affect you and your laboratory
- Learn tips of the trade from invited experts in “How I Practice Cytometry”
- Review key articles published in Cytometry Part B (Clinical Cytometry)
- Keep in touch with the International Clinical Cytometry Society
Free to all members of the International Clinical Cytometry Society.
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CLIA Manual Available for Free!
 Representatives from CCS and ISAC have been working on an updated Flow Cytometry CLIA Compliance Manual for members of the two societies. There are extensive changes, particularly in the area of Quality Assessment, and this document should prove useful to flow cytometry laboratories. At the most recent CCS and ISAC council meeting, there was unanimous agreement that this document should be made freely available to registered members of CCS and/or ISAC. After logging into CCS as a member you can access the document from the member services page.
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 Society Journal
Cytometry B: Clinical Cytometry
Submit manuscripts online using Manuscript Central.
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