President
Barack Obama on May 7 released his full fiscal
year 2010 budget. In a positive step long-advocated by
the ACC and the physician community, the Administration proposes
removing retrospectively Part B drug spending from the calculation
of physician services spending. This drops the cost of replacing
the sustainable growth rate formula by an estimated $87 billion.
In addition, the budget recommends reforming the physician
payment system, instituting prior authorization for imaging
services, reducing hospital readmissions, improving care coordination
and addressing physician ownership in specialty hospitals
The
Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday held a roundtable on financing
the cost of health care reform. Panelists discussed modifications
to the current tax exclusion of health benefits and whether
it would generate needed revenue or undermine the employer-based
health care system. Other topics included geographic variations
in care and payment reforms to Medicare. Written
statements from panelists are available online. The Committee
held a roundtable on delivery
system reform in late April, and on May 5 held a session
on access,
with the goal of drafting a bipartisan health reform proposal
to act on in early June.
REGULATORY
HHS
Reports Address Quality, Disparities
Health
and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently discussed
the release of two new HHS reports that discuss quality of
care and disparities in care. The annual 2008
National Healthcare Quality Report and 2008
National Healthcare Disparities Report find that adherence
to patient safety measures has decreased and many patients
do not receive recommended care. In positive news for cardiology,
however, the report states that the rate of improvement for
heart disease measures is nearly twice that of all measures.
To learn more about ACC’s health care reform efforts,
visit: qualityfirst.acc.org.
HHS
Health IT Committees to Meet Two
Health and Human Services (HHS) advisory committees on health
information technology (IT) are meeting this week to introduce
their committee members and develop a working schedule. The
Health IT Policy Committee and Health IT Standards Committee
– both established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act – were established to make recommendations to the
HHS secretary on the development and implementation of a national
health IT framework and infrastructure. The Health IT Policy
Committee met on May 11. At the meeting, members discussed
the committee’s scope, prioritized health IT issues
and heard from the public. The Health IT Standards Committee
will meet on May 15 from 9 a.m. – noon EST. A live audiocast
will be available. A list of all committee members is available
on the HHS
health IT Web site.
ACC staff
is attending the committee meetings and will continue to monitor
their recommendations, engaging with committee members when
appropriate. For health IT tools and resources, please visit:
www.acc.org/HealthIT.
CMS
Releases Proposed Hospital Payment Rates
The Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 1 released
its proposed rule for hospital inpatient payments for fiscal
year 2010, increasing overall payments by 0.2 percent beginning
Oct. 1. The proposed hospital inpatient prospective payment
system (IPPS) rule eliminates a required quality measure for
hospitals, beta blocker at arrival (AMI-6), for the acute
myocardial infarction hospital quality measures group for
discharges beginning April 1, 2010. CMS also is evaluating
whether to adopt quality measures that rely on clinical registries
and electronic health records as a source for data collection
to reduce the administrative burden of submission. The proposed
rule does not change any of the ten categories for preventable
hospital-acquired
conditions that must be reported. ACC Staff is reviewing
the proposed IPPS rule and will work with clinical committees
and others to draft the College’s comments, which are
due June 30. View
the proposed rule.
Echo
Code Changes: How Do They Affect Your Practice?
Please
complete a brief survey on the impact of the new echocardiography
CPT 93306 code. There have been reports of
problems surrounding the new code, and your participation
in the survey will provide a better understanding of these
issues, as well as assist in the creation of a model letter
that members can use to address the issue with their practice’s
private payers. The study is sponsored by the ACC and the
American Society of Echocardiography.
It is
important that the person who completes the survey be familiar
with its practice’s current contracts with insurance
companies, and have an understanding of the scope of Medicare
changes this year. The survey will ask the impact of 93306
(global) and 93306-26 (professional component). To
complete the survey, click here. The survey will
close on Friday, June 5, 2009. If you have questions
or problems, please contact Henry McCants at hmccants@acc.org.
New
FDA Approvals
The Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new lead from
Medtronic, Inc., for use in cardiac resynchronization therapy
(CRT) devices in heart failure patients. A company study of
190 patients in the U.S. and Canada found that physicians
were able to implant the lead, called Attain Ability,
96.4 percent of the time. More
coverage is available from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
The FDA
last week approved an abbreviated new drug application for
Mylan Inc., to begin to manufacture a generic version
of Roche’s CellCept, which helps to prevent
organ rejection for those receiving heart, kidney or liver
transplants. The generic version will be available in 500-
and 250-milligram capsules. More
coverage is available from the Associated Press/Forbes.
FDA
Recalls, Warnings
Biosite
and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have notified health
care professionals of the Class 1 recall of Biosite’s
Triage Cardiac Panel, a test used by health
professionals to aid in the diagnosis of a myocardial infarction.
The use of the affected lot may lead to false negative results.
The recall involves products distributed from Jan. 24, 2009,
through Feb. 17, 2009, for products with lot #W44467B. Health
care professionals are instructed to immediately discontinue
use and discard all affected products. Read
the recall notice.
The FDA
has warned Baxter International, Inc., about promotional materials
for its surgical sealant Tisseel, saying
the materials are misleading and overstate Tisseel’s
benefits. The materials claim that Tisseel is 97.5 percent
effective at achieving hemostasis for heart and lung bypass
patients; however, the product’s labeling indicates
a demonstrated effectiveness of up to 88.2 percent. In addition,
the materials say that the sealant is effective for treatments
other than those for which is has been approved. The Associated
Press/Business Week has additional
coverage.
Comparative
Effectiveness Council Holds Comment Session
The Federal
Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research
today in Chicago will hold its second listening session to
hear public comment regarding comparative effectiveness research.
The Council will assist in the coordination of comparative
effectiveness and related health services research across
Federal agencies. The ACC will submit comments to the Coordinating
Council, and will continue to follow its actions and provide
additional suggestions where appropriate.
QUALITY
Register
Now for Symposium on Payment Reform, CV Disease
In partnership
with Avalere Health, the ACC presents “Raising the Bar:
Payment Reform and Cardiovascular Disease” on June 12,
2009, in Washington, D.C. The event will feature ACC CEO Jack
Lewin, M.D., William Oetgen, M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C, from Georgetown
University, Len Nichols, Ph.D., from the New America Foundation,
Francois de Brantes, M.S., M.B.A., from Bridges to Excellence,
among other health care leaders. The symposium will examine
payment reform through the lens of cardiovascular disease
and focus on payment models that promise to shift toward value-based
purchasing. View
registration and agenda information.
