DJP Update 1-21-2010 AMA sent letter today to Senator Reid regarding SGR; But what about private contracting without penalty!!
Background: AMA also sent letter on December 21, 2009 to Senator Reid supporting H.R. 3590, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” as amended.
The complete AMA letter can be found at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/ama-supports-hr-3590.shtml
Nothing in that posted letter at the link above about AMA policy of the right of patients and physicians to privately contract without penalty. That policy is among the AMA highest advocacy priorities.
Today I have been informed that AMA and AARP sent a letter to Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi today calling for permanent repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. To that end, Sen. Reid has placed the House-passed SGR bill (H.R. 3961) on the Senate calendar. These efforts come in advance of the expiration of the two-month SGR “patch” included in last year’s Defense appropriations bill (P.L. 111-118); the patch expires February 28, triggering cuts of over 21 percent in Medicare physician payment levels absent further action.
Have you seen the letter? It is not on AMA Website as of tonight and doesn’t show up with search engine on AMA site or on Internet. Do you think you will find AMA policy about the right of patients and physicians to privately contract without penalty in that letter? I doubt it! If not, then AMA fails to learn the lesson of the need to publicly advocate for this policy as mandated by the AMA House of Delegates. I look forward to reading the letter. If you have it, please send me a copy.
I did get a fax from AMA yesterday urging a call to my senators asking them to permanently repeal the SGR. But there was no mention in the fax of the substitute price-fixing formula and no mention of private contracting. I assume the letter was sent to all AMA members.
Of course the SGR needs to be thrown out. But to replace it with another price-fixing formula does not solve the problem. We need the right of Americans to privately contract without penalty. Why should patients and doctors be denied this part of our liberty? Let Congress decide what it can pay for services delivered to patients on government programs and then get out of the way of liberty and Free Enterprise. With private contracting without penalty there won’t be the difficulty of finding a doctor! Let competition reign.
The upset in the U.S. Senate race came about, in my opinion, because Congress refused to listen and used the power of the majority to force bills through the Senate and the House. To me that represents the arrogance of power and the consequences are seen in the Massachusetts election. When will AMA make the point to Congress and in ads to the public about the AMA policy of private contracting? We wait in vain. How long must AMA members tolerate this? So sorry to continue repeating myself!
AMA prestige has been diminished greatly by the actions of supporting bills in Congress that almost 500,000 physicians are on record in Congress as opposing. Health System Reform is needed but use AMA specific policy previously quoted in other DJP Updates. The ship of Congress is in chaos at this moment and AMA needs to cut loose our towed AMA ship before it hits the shoals with the current majority. Let it not be said that AMA membership got so low in 2010 that AMA ceased to exist as a membership organization. AMA needs to exist and it needs the current leadership to stand tall and stop giving the impression of genuflecting for political expediency.
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Medpage Today has an article today on the topic of the SGR entitled: “With Time Running Low, AMA, AARP Push Permanent SGR Fix”
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/18094
Some excerpts:
WASHINGTON — The American Medical Association (AMA) was hoping the momentum of healthcare reform would carry along legislation that would finally repeal the much-despised sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that governs Medicare payments to doctors.
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The SGR was developed in 1997 as a way to prevent Medicare payments from growing too quickly. The formula indexes reimbursements to changes in the gross domestic product (GDP). But healthcare spending has been growing much faster than GDP, so applying the SGR formula would have resulted in actual reimbursement cuts year after year.
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“We’ve had assurances from Sens. Reid and Baucus that now is the time for a permanent fix,” he said, referring to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Finance chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).
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The “doctor payment fix” bill passed by the House — which would replace the SGR formula a with an annual payment increase equal to 1% more than the growth in the GDP (2% more for primary and preventive care physicians) was placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar on Wednesday, but there is no indication of when the measure will be taken up.
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The AMA and AARP, along with the Military Officers Association of America, hosted a Webcast Thursday with representatives in states where new TV ads will air, urging constituents to contact their senators to ask them to fix how doctors are paid under Medicare.
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Both the AMA and AARP publicly supported healthcare reform. And both groups said they remain hopeful that reform will still pass, even if it takes longer than anyone expected.
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And see CBO report on this issue of H.R. 3961 and the SGR: http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10704/hr3961.pdf
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And so it goes. Exciting times. There will be winners and losers. Let’s hope patients and physicians are not the main casualties.
Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
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