DJP Update 1-22-2010 Dramatic news from AMA! Hallelujah! Private contracting & balance billing in today’s AMA President’s blog
Here is an exciting development about the AMA policy to privately contract without penalty and balance bill as per long-standing AMA policy. As you know, I lamented in the DJP Update 1-21-2010 that AMA was not advocating this policy in the media and in the letter to Senator Reid that was sent out yesterday. I also could not find the letter on the AMA Website.
A specialty society legislative director found the letter about SGR fix on AMA Website and sent me the link:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/ama-aarp-moaa-house-call.shtml
Unfortunately, as was my concern, there is nothing about private contracting without penalty!
HOWEVER, TODAY AMA PRESIDENT DR. JIM ROHACK WROTE HIS COLUMN ENTITLED: “BLOG: ON THE ROAD WITH DR. ROHACK” AND ALSO SENT OUT A TWEET WITH A LINK TO HIS ARTICLE OF TODAY, 1-22-2010. The title of the article is “How we should pay physicians for medical care”.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/road-doctor-rohack.shtml?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&UID=21ae8cdf-e382-40c9-87cf-32c8561d0531&plckPostId=Blog%3a21ae8cdf-e382-40c9-87cf-32c8561d0531Post%3a7186ac13-6afb-4718-8cbc-d35d4c94684e&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
or get to it by the tweet shorter URL: http://bit.ly/89JmiD
Full tweet is:
AmerMedicalAssn
#AMABlog: AMA President J. James Rohack, MD, talks about how physicians should be paid for medical care. http://bit.ly/89JmiD
And Hallelujah, the article states in part,
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It’s pretty clear to me. Those who vote against fixing the SGR permanently want to ration care by denying access. This may appear to be harsh but it is the only realistic conclusion.
One way to deal with the increasing volume of medical services is to make sure access to those services is limited. Some say that the National Health Service in the United Kingdom controls costs by having only 30 percent of physicians who are non-primary care specialists, practice in regional hospitals.
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But we have seen physicians take a different approach by dropping out of Medicare and privately contracting with their patients for professional services. The penalty is that has to be done for two years and effects all patients.
Before 1997, physicians had the ability to bill Medicare patients the difference between their fee needed to keep their office viable and what Medicare paid for the services. As the cost for office upkeep measured by the Medicare Economic Index has continued to rise while Medicare payment has not kept pace (currently 20 percent less in 2009 fees compared to what should be paid), the financial problems are only getting worse.
If Congress would lift that ban on private contracting for the full fee for services and allow the physician to provide services on an individual basis and get paid to keep their office viable and not have to drop out of the Medicare program, it would allow accountability to occur at the point of contact.
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End of excerpts.
Wow! Thank you, Dr. Jim Rohack! Now send that blog article to everyone in Congress!! That public communication with copies to Congress is exactly what the AMA House of Delegates mandated. Let’s do it! Let’s restore liberty to patients and physicians.
Last night I said in the DJP Update 1-21-2010:
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“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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Today’s article by AMA President Dr. Rohack gives hope that the tow ropes have been cut! ONWARD!
And thanks to Dr. Jim Rohack!
This is a week to remember!
Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
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