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DJP 12-29-2005 AMA Update - Medicare cuts-4.4% go
into effect January
1, 2005; Reflections; Lagniappe (re: Richard Deem)
Congress fails to act on Medicare cuts! (Support of Senate and House but
procedural issues prevented passage!)
Continue to speak to your congressional delegation before Congress resumes
in January.
This occurred despite all the tremendous efforts of Organized Medicine.
Our patients no doubt will find it harder to locate a physician taking
Medicare patients if this cut is not fixed quickly. AMA and the
entire Federation will continue to work hard to eliminate this cut when
Congress returns and encourage Congress to make the fix retroactive to
January 1. AMA has sent an email update to the executive directors today
giving the latest information.
DJP REFLECTIONS:
Each year we have to beg Congress to not cut the payment for care to our
patients. Tremendous energy is spent on this endeavor each year.
Of course, we know the SGR has to be discarded and a fair method
of payment started.
American is a Free Enterprise land of liberty and the hallmark of Free
Enterprise is the right to privately contract. Yet physicians
cannot stay in Medicare unless they agree to the terms of
Medicare price-fixing.
As long as we let Congress define the debate, we will lose.
Congress defines the debate as giving Congress the right to set our fees.
AMA already has good policy stating that physicians should have the right
to privately contract, H-165.916. Also, AMA policy would
encourage Congress to put Medicare and Medicaid on a defined contribution
basis, H-165.985 and others.
Thus, the government would allocate a certain amount of money and everyone
on government programs would use that money to buy their own plan or set
up a Health Savings Account with a high-deductible second layer insurance
coverage. Physicians and patients can then negotiate the final fee as
happens in the rest of society in America. Even if Congress did not have
the courage to do this, an improvement would be to pay patients a certain
amount for a treatment (like the old indemnity plans) and the physician
would then balance-bill. The
ideal is to have all money go to patients and the patient pays
the physician.
Most of the leaders from yesteryear who advised this and warned of what is
happening now are no longer alive to see their prediction
come true. Leaders such as Mike Smith MD, and Jose Garcia-Oller, MD are
gone but Edward Annis, MD still sits in our AMA HoD and we should listen
to him more.)
If Congress won't change their methodology, it is imperative that we work
together to elect individuals who will respect physicians and
patients.
The current course of Congress will result in less and less
doctors treating patients on government programs because the doctors won't
be
able to afford to subsidize the care of those patients.
I made the above comments about changing the framework of debate at the
last OSMAP meeting. The response was overwhelming positive and I believe
those views are held by almost all practicing physicians who are not on a
salary from government or other large entity and who
have to personally meet their practice expenses each month.
End of Refections.
Addendum:
See comments of AMA Board Chair, Dr. Duane Cady, in AMNews giving
the accomplishments of 2005. A well-done article. Check it out.
The passage of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005
was a great accomplishment!
Also, here are some quotes from AMA's web site and associated links
concerning the Medicare cuts:
http://capwiz.com/ama/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8104801
Take action -- AMA in Washington
Stop Medicare physician payment cuts and protect patients. Tell your
federal representatives to fix Medicare’s broken payment system
Congress failed to fulfill its responsibilities to Medicare patients and
their physicians. On Jan. 1, the 2006 Medicare physician payment
cut begins, and the AMA is deeply concerned that this will harm seniors'
access to physician care. There is bipartisan agreement in
both the U.S. House and Senate that this cut must be stopped to preserve
seniors' access to care, and both the House and Senate have
passed legislation to stop the cut.
Procedural issues in the Senate and House prevented final action on this
critical access to care issue for Medicare patients. Tell your
representatives to immediately take up this issue when Congress returns to
halt the payment cuts and retroactively adjust payments. The AMA will
continue to strenuously advocate for a fair physician payment formula
based on practice costs, as well as continue to advocate for sound quality
improvement initiatives. Physicians are the foundation of Medicare, and
Congress needs to act promptly to preserve seniors' access to care.
Take action today! Use the form below to send an e-mail to
your legislators. Tell them to protect America’s patients by stopping
Medicare physician cuts!
Excerpt from AMA President Dr. Edward Hill (AMA press release)
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/15834.html
Congress has failed to fulfill its responsibilities to Medicare patients
and their physicians. On Jan. 1, the 2006 Medicare physician payment cut
begins, and the AMA is deeply concerned that this will harm seniors'
access to physician care. There is bipartisan agreement in both the U.S.
House and Senate that this cut must be stopped to preserve seniors' access
to care, and both the House and Senate have passed legislation to stop the
cut.
Procedural issues in the Senate and House prevented final action on this
critical access to care issue for Medicare patients.
.....
The 2006 Medicare physician payment cut of 4.4 percent is the first of six
years of planned cuts totaling 26 percent. During this same
time, practice costs will increase at least 15 percent.
.......
LAGNIAPPE:
If by chance you were cut off from the news on vacation or
traveling abroad, Richard Deem is the new AMA SVP of Advocacy in
Washington, DC. A very street-wise nice person who helped me tremendously
during my 9 year AMA tour of duty.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2005
AMA NAMES RICHARD A. DEEM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, ADVOCACY
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Medical Association (AMA) announces that
Richard A. Deem has been named Senior Vice President of Advocacy.
With nearly 30 years of Washington experience, Deem will oversee
the political, legislative, governmental affairs, health policy and
private sector advocacy activities located in the Washington, D.C. and
Chicago offices of the AMA.
“Success for the AMA is directly connected to our success on
the legislative and policy front. By having Rich Deem lead the advocacy
team for the AMA, we will be well positioned to deliver for our members,
and accomplish the goals outlined in our health care
advocacy agenda,” said Michael D. Maves, M.D., M.B.A, executive
vice president and chief executive officer of the AMA.
Deem is known in Washington and around the country as a tireless
and highly respected advocate for physicians and their patients. In 1984,
Deem joined the AMA after working in the U.S. Senate and in the
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Deem resides in Arlington, VA, with his wife Cheryl and son Matthew.
# # #
For more information, please
contact: Brenda L. Craine,
Director
AMA Media Relations
202/789-7447
Katherine Hatwell, Sr. PIO
AMA Media Relations
202/789-7419
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Thanks.
Happy New Year!
Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
DJP@intrepidresources.com
www.intrepidresources.com
(Alternative email is
Donald.Palmisano@ama-assn.org)
Risk management tip: have two emails in the event of a natural disaster
and one email server is disabled. The second server or Internet provider
should be in another state. Have a way to communicate by text in an
emergency as disasters usually knock out the voice communications.
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