Rep. Gonzalez (D-Texas) last week introduced our legislation, H.R. 4371, to maintain cardiology payments at the current practice expense rate while moving ahead with Physician Practice Information Survey-supported increases for other specialties. The bill had a whopping 55 original cosponsors. That is a whopping number for any bill. It’s quite amazing. If your legislator is on the list, please be sure to thank them.

1. Rep. Adler (N.J.)
2. Rep. Akin (Mo.)
3. Rep. Arcuri (N.Y.)
4. Rep. Bartlett (Md.)
5. Rep. Berry (Ark.)
6. Rep. Biggert (Ill.)
7. Rep. Bishop (Ga.)
8. Rep. Bishop (N.Y.)
9. Rep. Boren (Okla.)
10. Rep. Butterfield (N.C.)
11. Rep. Carnahan (Mo.)
12. Rep. Castle (Dela.)
13. Rep. Christensen (U.S. Virgin Islands)
14. Rep. Clay (Mo.)
15. Rep. Cohen (Tenn.)
16. Rep. Conaway (Texas)
17. Rep. Courtney (Conn.)
18. Rep. Cuellar (Texas)
19. Rep. Cummings (Md.)
20. Rep. Dent (Pa.)
21. Rep. Diaz-Balart (Fla.)
22. Rep. Faleomavaega (American Samoa)
23. Rep. Garrett (N.J.)
24. Rep. Gerlach (Pa.)
25. Rep. Grayson (Fla.)
26. Rep. Griffith (Ala.)
27. Rep. Hall (Texas)
28. Rep. Hill (Ind.)
29. Rep. Himes (Conn.)
30. Rep. Israel (N.Y.)
31. Rep. Kagen (Wis.)
32. Rep. Kosmas (Fla.)
33. Rep. Kratovil (Md.)
34. Rep. LoBiondo (N.J.)
35. Rep. Lowey (N.Y.)
36. Rep. Luetkemeyer (Mo.)
37. Rep. Maffei (N.Y.)
38. Rep. Marchant (Texas)
39. Rep. Massa (N.Y.)
40. Rep. McCarthy (N.Y.)
41. Rep. McCollum (Minn.)
42. Rep. McIntyre (N.C.)
43. Rep. Meek (Fla.)
44. Rep. Moran (Va.)
45. Rep. Murphy (N.Y.)
46. Rep. Norton (D.C.)
47. Rep. Ortiz (Texas)
48. Rep. Paul (Texas)
49. Rep. Peters (Mich.)
50. Rep. Pitts (Pa.)
51. Rep. Roe (Tenn.)
52. Rep. Ruppersberger (Md.)
53. Rep. Rush (Ill.)
54. Rep. Scott (Ga.)
55. Rep. Thornberry (Texas)
56. Rep Wasserman Schultz (Fla.)
57. Rep. Wittman (Va.)

With the House now in recess, the next stop is the Senate. Please continue contacting your legislators and encouraging them to lend their support, whether by sponsoring the House bill or urging similar legislation in the Senate. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has agreed to lead a sign-on letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) regarding the Medicare cuts. Please contact your senators ASAP and ask them to contact Madeline Otto at (202) 224-5274 or Madeline_Otto@Nelson.Senate.Gov to join the letter. For your Senators’ contact information, go to www.campaignforpatientaccess.org.

Working with the AMA and other specialty societies, we also succeeded in getting a Senate amendment to delay implementation of new Medicare consultation policy. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) this week introduced the amendment, which would delay the elimination of payments for consultations provided in office and hospital settings. This new policy, which was included in the final Medicare rule, is set to start on Jan. 1, 2010 and would decrease payments to varying degrees for consultation services. Under the Specter amendment, the new policy would be delayed until 2011 and the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be required to work with the CPT Editorial Panel to modify or establish new consultation service codes that will minimize coding errors. It has to be enacted still.

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