National News - Johnson Proposes Physician Reimbursement be Linked to Quality of Care
House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) on Thursday introduced a bill that would repeal the existing formula for calculating Medicare's physician payments and replace it with a system linking payments to quality, CongressDaily reports. The measure, which seeks to pre-empt a scheduled 4.3% cut in Medicare physician payments in January, could become part of this fall's budget reconciliation package, according to Johnson (CongressDaily, 7/28).
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National News - McClellan Discusses Proposals to Prevent Payment Cuts
McClellan said he has been working with lawmakers and physician organizations to develop proposals to prevent the payment cut and to repeal the formula currently used to set physician payment rates. One change that "can be made in time to prevent next year's cut" is instituting a system in which physicians are rewarded for providing quality care," McClellan said.
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National News - CMA Develops P4P Guidelines for Medicare and Others
“Pay for performance” is a hot topic in health care circles. Many payors, including Medicare, are considering programs to improve the quality of care provided to patients through the use of financial incentives. Indeed, two bills being considered by Congress this year would create mandatory pay-for-performance (P4P) programs for Medicare.
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National News - CMA Urges Physicians to Contact Lawmakers in District Offices During Congress’s Summer Recess
CMA encourages physicians to contact their federal lawmakers and urge them to sign on as cosponsors of two bills that would stave off the looming Medicare payment cuts. Personal contact with lawmakers makes a big difference in how they vote. U.S. Senators and Representatives will be in their home districts for the congressional recess, August 1 through September 2.
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National News - COA Recommendations on Medicare Demonstration Project
The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) believes strongly that the $300 million Medicare demonstration project be extended through 2006 and be funded at the current level. The demonstration project has provided payment for important services that were subsidized by drug payment under the old Medicare reimbursement system. It is the type of quality, pay-for-performance initiatives that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is promoting.
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National News - ACCC Reports on Demo Project Continuation
The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) is pleased to announce that last week the House Energy & Commerce Committee reported out of committee House Resolution 261, introduced by Congressman Ralph Hall (R-Tex.) and sponsored by 23 other members of Congress, which commends the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for creating a demonstration project to assess the effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients, and calls on CMS to extend the project, with refinements, at least through 2006. Click here to read H. Res. 261.
Under the demonstration program, oncologists are paid to assess pain, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue in chemotherapy patients. The demo has eased the burden on oncologists created by the change in reimbursement for Part B to a formula of average sales price plus 6 percent from the average wholesale price-based formula. The resolution includes a provision stipulating that payments to physicians for participation in the demo should "facilitate continued access of Medicare patients with cancer to chemotherapy treatments of the highest quality," potentially opening the door for CMS to modify the level of payments or other criteria under the program.
ACCC is pleased that Congressman Hall and other members of the Energy & Commerce Committee understand the value of the demonstration and its positive impact on cancer care. We will continue to support H. Res. 261 as it moves through the legislative process, and ask other Members of the House of Representatives to vote in favor of the resolution.
National News - ASCO Reports on Demonstration Project Resolution HR 261
ASCO is pleased to report that the House Energy and Commerce Committee has taken an important first step in moving House Resolution 261 to the floor of the House of Representatives. H. Res 261, introduced by Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX) commends the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for creating the demonstration project to assess the effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients, and it calls on CMS to extend the project, with refinements, beyond 2005 when it is set to expire.
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National News - Senate Committe Approves Bill to Expand Information Technology Use
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday approved by voice vote a measure (S 1418) intended to expand the use of information technology among health care providers, CongressDaily reports. The bill is compromise legislation, including provisions of a bill (S 1355) co-sponsored by HELP Chair Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) and committee ranking member Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and a measure (S 1262) co-sponsored by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) (Rovner/Heil, CongressDaily, 7/20).
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State News - CMA Urges Physicians to Oppose Medical Board Fee Bill
The Medical Board of California reauthorization bill (SB 231) will be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee August 17. CMA opposes the bill as currently written because it contains language that would eliminate the diversion program, limit physicians’ ability to appeal a medical board disciplinary action, and hand off to the attorney general all cases involving alleged physician misconduct, not just those that warrant further investigation.
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