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Welcome

Celebrating Over 80 Years Of Service!

The American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy (AAOA) represents over 2,700 Board-certified otolaryngologists and health care providers. Otolaryngology, frequently referred to as Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT), uniquely combines medical and surgical expertise to care for patients with a variety of conditions affecting the ears, nose, and throat, as well as commonly related conditions. AAOA members devote part of their practice to the diagnosis and treatment of allergic disease. The AAOA actively supports its membership through education, research, and advocacy in the care of allergic patients.

"Advance the comprehensive management of allergy and inflammatory disease in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery through training, education, and advocacy."

AAOA Member Benefits

  • Up to 60% discount for CME programs and free Annual Meeting. All AAOA’s CME programs meet ABOTOHNS Continuing Certification.
  • AAOA US ENT Affinity program, where AAOA members can gain savings on antigen, allergy supplies, and any of the other 5 service lines US ENT offers. For more email info@usentpartners.com.
  • Tools and resources to comply with US General Chapter 797 and practice management tools.
  • Advocacy support.
  • And much more! Learn More

ADVOCACY UPDATES

United Healthcare Home Immunotherapy Policy Change

United Healthcare has recently announced a policy change. Effective January 1, 2023, UHC will no longer…

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Medicare 2022 Conversion Factor Update

Thanks to lobbying efforts from the House of Medicine, Congress took action this month. The…

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CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Summary

On July 13, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician…

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Upcoming Dates

04/01/24: Fellow Exam Application Deadline
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06/01/24: Research Grant Cycle
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06/25/24: Membership Application Deadline to be eligible for AAOA Member rate for the 2024 Basic Course

08/02/24: Scientific Abstract Submission Deadline
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12/01/24: Research Grant Cycle
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EDUCATION

AAOA Advanced Course

The recorded course content is available until April 30, 2024. This year’s Advanced Course featured Laryngology and Skull Base Surgery with Nausheen Jamal, MD and Garret Choby, MD as featured faculty.

RESIDENTS

For information about Resident membership, opportunities, DosedDaily, research grants, and other resources. Learn More

IFAR

Available Now

aaoaf-ifar

IFAR Impact Factor: 2.454

IFAR Featured Content: COVID-19 - Free Access
Endonasal instrumentation and aerosolization risk in the era of COVID‐19: simulation, literature review, and proposed mitigation strategies . Read More

Changes in Managing Practices

Working together with AAOA staff, volunteer leadership and members will enable us to have a positive impact on our members’ practices.

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Live and Online CME

2024 AAOA Advanced Course in Allergy & Immunology - Hybrid
On-Demand Content Access Deadline:
April 30, 2024
Learn More and Register

2024 AAOA Basic Course in Allergy & Immunology - Hybrid
July 25-27, 2024
The Diplomat, Hollywood, Florida
Learn More and Register

2024 AAOA Annual Meeting - Hybrid
November 8-10, 2024
Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas
Learn More 

USP 797 Online Module
Learn More and Register

AAOA Educational Stacks
Next Availability - April 1, 2024

News and Updates

CEO Update, Fall 2023 -Winter 2024

“But time, keeps flowing like a river….on and on to the sea”  Alan Parsons Project…

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Keith Sale, MD, AAOA President-Elect, Testifies Before the Senate Subcommittee Hearing

Keith Sale, MD, AAOA President-Elect, recently testified before the Senate Subcommittee hearing, Avoiding a Cautionary Tale: Policy…

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College Allergy Symptoms Treatment Back to Shcool

PRACTICE RESOURCES

AAOA Practice Resource Tool Kit

The American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy (AAOA) Practice Resource Tool Kit is intended as a guide to help AAOA members integrate allergy into their otolaryngology practice and to continually improve on this integration as new information, regulations, and resources become available.

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PARTNER RESOURCE CENTER

AAOA has launched a Partner Resource Center to bring you partner resources that can assist your practice and patient care.

Visit the New Center>

PATIENT CORNER

CY 2021 Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule Summary

On August 3, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule for CY 2021. This proposal updates payment policies and payment rates for Part B services furnished under the MPFS, as well as makes changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP). The rule in its entirety and the addenda, including Addendum B, which lists the proposed RVUs for each CPT code can be found here.

The proposal is currently open for comment through October 5. The rule’s provisions, if finalized, will beeff ective January 1, 2021 unless stated otherwise. The following summarizes the major policies in the proposal.

Planned 30-day Delayed Effective Date for the Final Rule (p. 801)

Normally, CMS provides a 60-day delay in the effective date of final rules after the date that they are issued. However, the Congressional Review Act allows an agency to change the effective date if there is good cause to not follow regular notice and public procedures. Since CMS is prioritizing efforts to contain and combat the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the work needed to complete the PFS payment rule will not be completed in accordance with their usual schedule, which aims for a publication date of at least 60 days before the start of the applicable fiscal year, approximately November 1. The agency expects to need at least 30 additional days to complete the work on the payment rule. Therefore, the agency expects that the PFS final rule will be released December 1 and will have an effective 30 days after publication of January 1.

Conversion Factor and Specialty Impact (p. 894)

The proposed conversion factor for 2021 is $32.26, a decrease of almost $4 from the current conversion factor of $36.09. This reduction of 10.61 percent stems from adjustments that statutorily required to accommodate the new spending on the outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) changes as well as other changes in the budget neutral system. Table 90 (see Appendix A), extracted from the rule, provides a summary of the impact of the changes in the proposed rule by specialty. The changes in the rule are budgetneutral in the aggregate, which explains why the impact for all physicians is shown as zero. The proposed rule shows changes in the range of minus 11 percent to plus 17 percent with allergy and otolaryngology seeing 9 and 7 percent increases respectively. However, the ultimate impact on an individual physician’s reimbursement will depend on their case mix as the majority of services that are not E/M have decreased.
As you will see in the attached chart, the budget neutrality adjustment is resulting in significant increases to many of the specific codes billed by AAOA members.

Refinements to Values for Certain Services to Reflect Revisions to Payment for Office/Outpatient Evaluation and Management (E/M) Visits and Promote Payment Stability during the COVID-19 Pandemic (p. 144)

BACKGROUND: In the CY 2020 PFS final rule, CMS adopted the CPT Panel’s changes to the outpatient E/M family that will be effective on January 1, 2021. Providers will no longer use history and physical exam to select the appropriate visit level, and E/M visits will include a medically appropriate history and exam when it is reasonable and necessary, and clinically appropriate. Visit level selection will be based on either the level of medical decision making (MDM) as redefined by CPT or the total face-to-face and non-face-toface time spent by the reporting practitioner on the day of the visit.

Read the full summary here.

Download the AAOA Proposed 2021 MPFS Codes

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