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Feb.
7 , 2005 |
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REIMBURSEMENT
• Ways and Means
to Review Medicare Physician Payment
• HHS Secretary Considers
Reimbursement Formula Fix |
MEDICAL
LIABILITY REFORM
• House Introduces
Liability Reform Bill |
QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT
• Medicare
Demo Links Reimbursement With Quality
• Free Teleconference
on HIPAA Security Rule |
LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY
• Bush
Outlines Domestic Agenda
• NIH Tightens Consulting
Rules
• Don’t Miss
Practice Management Session at ACC ‘05 |
REIMBURSEMENT |
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Ways
and Means to Review Medicare Physician Payment
The House
Ways and Means Committee will hold a Feb.
10 hearing on Medicare payments to physicians.
The ACC expects the Medicare Payment Advisory
Commission to report on its draft recommendations
for physician payment reform, including
linking physician reimbursement
with performance and controlling the use
of diagnostic imaging services. The
Alliance of Specialty Medicine,
of which the ACC is a member, will testify
at Thursday's hearing on the sustainable
growth rate formula and pay-for-performance
initiatives. |
HHS
Secretary Considers Reimbursement Formula
Fix
In
response to questions posed during his Senate
confirmation, Health and Human Services
Secretary Michael Leavitt indicated his
willingness to explore administrative changes
to the current Medicare physician reimbursement
formula. In order to stave off pending cuts
to physician reimbursement, Leavitt is reviewing
a $119 billion proposal prepared by actuaries
at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS).
The
CMS proposal calls for a 3.7 percent payment
increase in 2006, followed by nine years
of modest updates ranging from a 2 percent
increase to a 0.5 percent cut. Although
open to revising the sustainable
growth rate formula, Leavitt stopped short
of supporting the removal of physician-administered
drugs from the formula. |
| MEDICAL
LIABILITY REFORM |
House
Introduces Liability Reform Bill
Last week, Rep. Christopher
Cox, R-Calif., re-introduced the Help Efficient,
Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH)
Act aimed at reducing medical liability
insurance rates. The bill, which is identical
to legislation passed by the House last
year, caps non-economic damages at $250,000
and maximizes patient recovery of legitimate
claims. More than
125 legislators have signed on as co-sponsors
of this year’s HEALTH Act and a medical
liability hearing by the House Energy and
Commerce Committee is tentatively scheduled
for Feb. 10.
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| QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT |
Medicare
Demo Links Reimbursement With Quality
Announcing a new Medicare
pay-for-performance demonstration project,
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan, M.D. said,
“It is time that we pay for the quality
of the health care provided to our beneficiaries,
not simply the amount.” As part of the
demonstration, ten physician groups will submit
patient outcome data to Medicare. Groups that
show cost-effective, high-quality management
of chronic conditions, such as congestive
heart failure, coronary artery disease and
hypertension, will receive financial payments
above the traditional fee-for-service reimbursement.
Click
here to learn more about the Physician
Group Practice project. |
Free
Teleconference on HIPAA Security Rule
CMS is sponsoring two
free teleconferences on Feb. 9 and 23
to review the HIPAA security rule. These events
will help providers comply with federal regulations
governing collection, storage and transmission
of patients’
protected health information. Providers must
be compliant with the HIPAA
security rule by April 20, 2005. |
| LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY |
Bush
Outlines Domestic Agenda
President Bush outlined
a broad domestic agenda during his State
of the Union address on Feb. 2. In addition
to his plan for sweeping Social Security
reforms, Bush also expressed his intent
to address skyrocketing medical liability
insurance rates and promote implementation
of electronic medical records. Click
here to read a transcript of the address.
In
concert with his State of the Union address,
Bush is scheduled to release his fiscal
year 2006 executive budget proposal today.
Bush has expressed his intent to keep a
tight reign on domestic spending to accommodate
increases in homeland security and military
expenditures. |
NIH
Tightens Consulting Rules
The National Institutes
of Health (NIH) recently announced
strict regulations on outside consulting
work or business partnerships. Earlier this
year, the research agency prohibited senior
staff from engaging in outside work with
companies or organizations that could benefit
from such an arrangement. Last week’s
announcement extended this policy to all
NIH employees and expanded the scope of
limitations to include stock purchases and
award presentations.
In
related news, the NIH is instituting a
new policy to improve public access
to NIH-sponsored research. The policy requires
scientists to release articles to the public
within 12 months of final publication. Articles
will be available to the public through
a Web-based archive managed by the National
Library of Medicine. |
Don’t
Miss Practice Management Session at ACC ‘05
Learn the essential elements
of running a productive and cost-efficient
cardiology practice at this year’s ACC
’05 Spotlight Session, “Implementing
Best Practices of Cardiology Groups.”
Sponsored by the Medical Group Management
Association (MGMA), this program will help
attendees identify ways to improve their practice
workflow and build more resourceful and profitable
businesses. Throughout ACC ‘05, MGMA
consultants will be on-hand at booth #2376
to provide free mini-consultations. The program
is scheduled for Sunday, March 6, and interested
members can use ACC’s Program Planner
at http://www.acc.org/2005ann_meeting/home/home.htm
to learn more about this exciting session. |
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| Questions?
Comments? Send your feedback to epubs@acc.org
and include the name of the publication in
the subject line. |
