CMS
Releases Proposed 2009 Physician Fee Schedule CMS this week released its proposed 2009 Medicare
Physician Fee Schedule, which includes provisions for the
revision of payments for physician services, including imaging.
Under the rule, physician payments would be cut by 5.4 percent
on Jan. 1, 2009 as a result of the flawed SGR formula. The
ACC is currently reviewing the rule and more information will
be provided over the coming weeks regarding specific impacts
to imaging and other cardiovascular services, coding changes,
and possible implications for PQRI. For more on the rule,
click
here.
Senate
Fails to Stop Payment Cuts Last Thursday, by a vote of 58 to 40, the Senate
failed to gain the 60 votes necessary to pass H.R.
6331 the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers
Act of 2008" to stop the Medicare physician payment
cut. Click
here to find out how your Senator voted. It is important
to note that Senate Majority Leader Reid voted NO on H.R.
6331 as a procedural move that will allow him to bring the
bill up for a vote again.
The ACC is extremely disappointed in the outcome of the Senate
vote, and continues to work hard with other specialty organizations
to ensure that the Senate passes H.R. 6331. Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has stated that the Senate will vote
on H.R. 6331 again next week when the Senate returns from
the Independence Day recess. The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that its contractors
will not process claims under the negatively adjusted formula
from July 1 until July 15. The ACC does not
recommend that members hold claims at this time.
Since early June, ACC members have made almost 2,000 contacts
with their federal legislators. We must keep the drumbeat
going and urge Senators to pass Medicare legislation that
provides 18 months of positive physician payment updates and
reverses the cuts retroactively. Contact your Senators and
Representatives at the ACC's toll-free Grassroots Hotline
at (800) 210-7193 or click
here.
Health
Subcommittee Approves Health IT Bill The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health
on June 25 approved legislation that would promote the adoption
of a nationwide electronic health information technology (HIT)
infrastructure. The bill, the Protecting Records, Optimizing
Treatment and Easing Communication Through Healthcare Technology
Act (H.R. 6357), would codify the office of the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology at the Department of Health
& Human Services. This office would be responsible for
overseeing advisory committees that develop HIT standards,
policies and implementation. In addition, the bill would provide
grants and loans to physicians to assist in the adoption,
implementation and use of electronic health records. The most
controversial parts of the bill were its privacy provisions
intended to secure patients' medical data, which some lawmakers
argued would lead to unintended consequences. These protections
include security standards, penalties for violation and a
system of notification when a security breach occurs.
Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said that he believes
the bill will proceed to the full House without difficulties,
with the goal of House passage before the August recess. The
College highly encourages its members to adopt e-prescribing
and other health information technology (HIT) to improve clinical
outcomes, reduce medical errors and increase efficiency. To
learn more about the College's efforts to promote HIT, visit
http://www.acc.org/HealthIT.
Register
Now: ACC’s 2008 Legislative Conference Registration is now open for the ACC’s 2008
Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. This year’s
conference will take place Sept. 14-16 at the Fairmont Hotel.
Don't miss this unique opportunity to help advocate for fair
and sound policies that ensure cardiovascular specialists
can practice medicine in a manner that derives the greatest
value for patients. Participants will learn about key issues
facing the cardiovascular community and be able to educate
their respective lawmakers about the need for the cardiovascular
community to be at the table when it comes to improving patient
access, reforming Medicare and ensuring any new health care
system moves beyond process to focus on outcomes.
The ACC has made a select number of travel awards available
to FITs, CCAs, and cardiologists in their first few years
of practice to cover up to $1,000 in airfare, hotel and other
expenses. To apply for these awards, interested FITs and CCAs
should send an email by July 11 with their full name, address
and a brief explanation on why they’d like to attend.
CCAs should send their email to Kelly Bohannon (kbohanno@acc.org),
and FITs to Kelly Ventura (kventura@acc.org).
Award recipients will be announced in July. Award recipients
will be announced in early July. For more information, click
here.
REGULATORY
AND PAYER
FDA
Panel Considers New Standards for Diabetes Drugs The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday
and Wednesday convened its Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs
Advisory Committee to consider if prescription drug manufacturers
should be required to study the cardiovascular effects of
diabetes drugs. The committee, which includes former ACC president
Steven Nissen, M.D., M.A.C.C., as a guest speaker, will discuss
whether drug makers should be required to prove that their
drugs reduce heart problems and death to receive FDA approval.
According to background documents prepared for the meeting,
although "conclusive evidence of a reduced risk of macrovascular
complications in type 2 diabetes has not yet been established"
for any currently available diabetes treatment, a "requirement
for demonstrating cardiovascular benefit will likely have
major implications on the availability of new treatments for
type 2 diabetes" and such a requirement "would prompt
questions as to why currently marketed therapies (all lacking
evidence of such benefit) should remain available." To
read the background document in its entirety, click
here.
QUALITY
CMS
Proposes New Rules for Rural Health Clinics The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) last week proposed new rules to allow Medicare beneficiaries
who live in rural and underserved areas to continue to receive
health care services from Rural Health Clinics (RHCs). The
proposed rules would establish location requirements for clinics
that participate as an RHC – a move intended to ensure
that the RHC program keeps pace with demographic changes in
service areas. The rules also would limit payments for RHCs
to 80 percent of reasonable costs, minus beneficiary coinsurance
and deductible amounts. In addition, the proposed rules would
require RHCs to establish quality assessment and performance
improvement programs to help clinics identify and implement
opportunities for improvement. Many changes in the proposed
rule would also apply to federally qualified health centers.
For more information about the proposed rule, view a CMS fact
sheet here
or view the rule here.
Comments must be submitted by August 27.
Joint
Commission Revises Standards The Joint Commission has released revised standards
for hospitals, critical-access hospitals, ambulatory care,
office-based surgery and home-care settings, effective Jan.
1, 2009, as the first phase of three-year project under its
Standards Improvement Initiative. The revision affects its
standards, rationales and element of performance with the
goal of streamlining and clarifying the standards to ensure
applicability to specific care environments, according to
a Joint Commission spokesperson. The revision project is intended
to increase objectivity in the survey process and increase
accuracy in determining hospital compliance with standards.
Google,
Microsoft Join PHR Protection Agreement Google Inc., and Microsoft Corp., have joined an
array of health care providers and insurers to introduce a
new agreement to protect personal health records (PHRs) online.
The companies hope these new guidelines will persuade more
consumers to store their medical records online, potentially
cutting costs and errors associated with traditional paper
records. The agreement includes “audit trails”
for consumers to keep track of who is looking at their records,
while also preventing insurers and employers from viewing
private medical information.
