President
Barack Obama on Tuesday signed into law the “American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” (ARRA). The bill
contains several health care provisions, including $1 billion
in funding for prevention and wellness programs and $10 billion
in research funding for National Institutes of Health. The
bill also contains $19 billion in incentives for “meaningful
users” of health information technology (IT). Specifically,
the health IT provisions include:
Incentive payments
of up to $18,000 for physicians and hospitals that implement
health IT in 2011 or 2012. In subsequent years, this incentive
payment drops to $12,000, $8,000, $4,000 and finally $2,000
Penalties for
physicians and hospitals that do not adopt a certified health
IT system by 2015 start at -1 percent update in payment.
The penalty will grow to -2 percent in 2016 and -3 percent
in 2017
Significant
confusion was created in the media and on Capitol Hill regarding
the ARRA provision that provides $1.1 billion for comparative
effectiveness research (CER). Specifically, some were concerned
that the Federal Coordinating Council for CER would be able
to limit access to health care items or services due to cost.
However, the final language states that funds are only to
be used to conduct CER research, and are not intended "to
be used to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies
for any public or private payer." Read
more from The New York Times. The ACC supported
the passage of the health provisions in a letter
to conferees on Feb. 11. More coverage of ARRA will also be
available in the March issue of Cardiology.
REGULATORY
FDA
News Updates
The
Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Cardiovascular
and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee will meet on March 18 in
Adelphi, Md., to discuss a new drug application for dronedarone
400 milligrams oral tablets for the proposed indication in
patients with a history of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter,
for the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular hospitalization
or death. The drug is manufactured by Sanofi Aventis. More
information is available on the FDA Web site.
The FDA and Roche
Laboratories have notified health care professionals of the
introduction of a Medication Guide to provide important safety
information in a patient-friendly manner for the immunosuppressant
CellCept. FDA regulations require a pharmacist to distribute
a copy of the Medication Guide to every patient who fills
a CellCept prescription. More information can be found in
FDA’s MedWatch
2009 Safety summary.
FDA approvals:
The FDA has approved connector system manufactured by St.
Jude’s Medical that connects a single defibrillation
lead to a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator
and the lead sending electrical impulses to the heart. In
addition, FDA has approved Transoma Medical’s Sleuth
Advanced Trending second-generation cardiac monitoring system.
Visit Cardiovascular
Business magazine for more information.
QUALITY
How
Do You Adhere to Guidelines? ACC’s
online member forum, The Lewin Report, today features
immediate past president James Dove, M.D., M.A.C.C., discussing
the challenges inherent in translating guidelines into everyday
practice. In his post, “Guidelines:
Not Cookbook Medicine,” Dr. Dove writes that guidelines
“are a wonderful distillation of the literature and
serve as a tremendous resource guide to practitioners. They
are, however, difficult to apply at the bedside.... Best practices
in the future will use computer decision-support tools (CDS)
that function well within the clinical workflow and facilitate
decision-making as well as providing reminders at the point
of care.” What do you think?Read
Dr. Dove’s post in full and share how you adhere
to guidelines!
Pfizer
to Disclose Physician Payments
Pfizer
on Feb. 9 announced that by early 2010 it will disclose most
of the payments it makes to physicians and other health care
professionals, “to boost trust in its products and collaborations,”
Reuters
reports. The payments for consulting, speaking engagement
and all phases of clinical trials will appear on the company’s
Web site. However, the disclosures will not include payments
to contributors to medical journal articles, such as technical
medical writers. However, in some cases, compensation for
these writers will be acknowledged within the article, although
will not include specific payment details, according to the
company.
STATE
States
Hold Legislative, Heart Healthy Days
Several
ACC chapters in February held legislative and heart healthy
days. In Arizona, the Chapter held its first-ever legislative
day in Phoenix. Chapter President-elect Kris Vijay, M.D.,
F.A.C.C. and several other chapter members met with fifteen
state lawmakers to discuss issues of importance to the cardiovascular
community. Although the legislative climate in Arizona is
tense, the day was a great opportunity for members to meet
their own legislators and those in key positions. In Indianapolis,
Ind., 25 members met with more than 50 elected officials to
discuss the passage of a smoke-free bill and how federal dollars
for health information technology could be of use to the state.
Finally,
the Maryland Chapter held its 2nd Annual Heart Healthy Day
in Annapolis. Fifty state legislators and their staff participated
in screenings delivered by FACCs and CCAs. After an initial
blood pressure and body mass index screening, the members
accessed Cardiosource from laptops for further consultation.
The legislators and staff were impressed that ACC members
took the day out of their busy schedules to provide these
services and educate them on steps they can take to improve
their cardiovascular health. Look for more coverage of these
events in March’s Cardiology!
