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TOA
President's
Update: Call To Contact Your Legislators
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By Timothy L. Beck, MD
President, Texas Orthopaedic Association
Most of you received the Medicare Alert
from David Halsey, MD, reminding us about the 10.6 percent payment cut
which will go into effect on July 1, 2008 if Congress doesn’t
intervene. The article below, Legislative Alert – Medicare Physician
Payment Formula will give you the details and history of the proposed
Medicare cut. It is very important
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that TOA members write our U.S.
Representatives.
I urge you to read
Dr. Halsey’s Medicare Alert and
to make a phone call or send a fax to your member of Congress and send
a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Click on these
links for examples:
Sample Letter to the Editor and
Fax/Talking Points to your U.S. legislators.
TMA Past President, Dr. William Hinchey,
said it best in February 2008. “Although the last-minute fix
forestalled an arbitrary 10-percent cut imposed on physician
practices, we believe there is no acceptable solution other than a
permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) funding formula.
Anything less amounts to the government abandoning its commitment to
senior citizens. Neither our patients nor their physicians can live
with all this uncertainty.” said Dr. Hinchey.
This is an issue of access to quality
medical care for our senior citizens in this country.
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Betts Announces
Resignation From TDI Position
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Albert Betts, Commissioner of Workers' Compensation at the Texas
Department of Insurance (TDI), has announced he will resign Aug. 31.
Betts was appointed as the Workers' Compensation Division's first
commissioner in 2005. He had previously served as chief of staff for
TDI as well as deputy commissioner for human resources and assistant
general counsel to the commissioner. Betts has also been an assistant
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attorney general in the Office of the
Attorney General, assistant general counsel at the Texas Workers'
Compensation Commission and general counsel for the State Office of
Risk Management.
Betts, in a statement, said the division has "accomplished much" in
the three years he served as commissioner, "working to reform the
agency itself to become an effective regulator and manager of the
workers' compensation system in Texas." He said the future looks
bright for Texas workers' compensation. Insurance Commissioner Mike
Geeslin called Betts "a great leader" who took on the difficult
assignment of merging two agencies while implementing major reform
legislation.
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This Week In Texas: Mignon
McGarry Memos
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By Mignon McGarry
TOA Legislative Advocate / Memo: Wed. November 28th,
2007
TOA Online Version: All Memos
June 11, 2008, Wednesday
In Austin, all eyes
have been on the Governor’s Mansion this week. Driving by, my
eyes were drawn to the charred columns and sunken
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rooftop. The search continues for the
person responsible for the damage and promises have been made to
restore and rebuild the structure. Luckily, the invaluable furnishings
are tucked away in a storage facility and Governor Perry and his
family are safe in the temporary home they have resided in for almost
a year. Pictures of the damage can be found on Governor Perry’s
website by clicking
here.
Paul Hudson has announced that he will leave the Public Utility
Commission in August. Hudson has served on the PUC for five years.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has appointed a new
executive director. Mark Vickery, the agency's deputy executive
director since May 1, 2004, will be the new executive director,
effective June 17. He is succeeding Glenn Shankle, who is retiring
from state government.
Albert Betts, the commissioner of workers’ compensation for the Texas
Department of Insurance is retiring in August. No word yet on his
replacement.
As Texans schedule appointments with their local appraisal districts
to protest their property taxes, the Senate Finance Subcommittee on
Property Appraisal and Revenue Caps will meet June 16th in Austin. The
House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform
will meet in Austin the following day.
Texas Democrats convened in Austin last week for their annual
convention and Texas Republicans will meet in Houston this weekend.
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Legislative Alert - Medicare Physician Payment
Formula
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As expected, last Thursday's Senate vote on whether to consider the Baucus
Medicare package failed. As both parties begin to negotiate
compromises on their respective bills, we urge Senate leaders to work
on a
bill that can enjoy broad bipartisan support in the Senate and be
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enacted into law before the 10.6
percent cut goes into effect on July 1, 2008. With the July 1st deadline approaching, we encourage all AAOS Fellows to
contact their Senators at (202) 224-3121 (the US Capitol Switchboard).
If you do not know who your Senators are or would like to contact their
offices directly, please visit this
link.
The rest of this article will give you
more information and history on the status of the Medicare Physician
Payment Formula.
Finding a permanent solution to the flawed Medicare physician
payment formula continues to be the highest priority for the AAOS.
This special AAOS Advocacy Now update provides the orthopaedic
community with the latest information on averting the 10.6 percent
payment cut which
will go into effect on July 1, 2008 without Congressional
intervention.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) released a bill to
stop the July 1, 2008 physician payment cut that would otherwise take
effect under the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The
Baucus package would continue the 2008 payment rates through the end
of the year and provide a 12-month 1.1 percent update beginning
January 1, 2009. The package also includes other Medicare provisions
regarding budget neutrality, e-prescribing, quality reporting, and
imaging accreditation. These imaging provisions are particularly
troublesome for specialty societies, such as orthopaedic surgeons,
where imaging is integral to quality patient care. Perhaps most
problematic, the bill is partially financed out of future physician
payments, which could lead to a 20 percent cut in 2010.
Also, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA)
released the Republican package with similar provisions, including
keeping payments level through the rest of 2008 and providing a 1.1
percent update for 2009. The Republican package does not include the
budget neutrality adjustment. The Republicans have not as of yet
issued the actual legislative language.
The main difference between the bills is the financing mechanism – the
same issue over which bipartisan talks broke down several weeks ago.
The Democrat package relies on cuts to Medicare Advantage private fee
for service plans and Medicare Advantage indirect medical education
payments (IME), while the Republican package is expected to rely
almost solely on the Medicare Advantage IME payment reductions.
While the entire physician community applauds the Senate Democrats and
Republicans for proposing an 18- month plan to stop the cuts and
provide a positive update. At this time, each party is working
separately on their respective bills.
We continue to urge the Senate to work on a bill that can enjoy broad
bipartisan support in the Senate and be enacted into law before the
10.6 percent cut goes into effect on July 1, 2008 and work on a long
term solution for fixing the SGR. While at this time it may not be in
the best interest of the orthopaedic community to endorse these
packages, we applaud efforts to correct the flawed physician payment
formula.
For AAOS Fellows who feel compelled to contact their Senators, at
(202) 224-3121 (the US Capitol Switchboard), please be advised that
some provisions in the legislation moving through Congress may not be
in the best interest of the orthopaedic community. Therefore, any call
to your U.S. Senators should emphasize that:
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The deadline for
enacting a fix is quickly approaching;
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Allowing the cut to
go into effect will have a detrimental effect on Medicare patient’s
ability to access care;
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An 18-month positive
update must be enacted to prevent physicians from leaving the Medicare
program; and
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Including a provision
that moves the budget neutrality adjuster from Medicare work values to
the Medicare conversion factor will help bring equity and fairness to
Medicare payment calculations.
The AAOS Office of Government Relations, working closely with
AAOS leadership, especially the Chair of the AAOS Council on Advocacy,
have been engaged and present at all meetings with U.S. Senators and
their staff.
We will continue to provide you with updates as appropriate as we, in
the short-term, avert the payment cut, and in the long-term, find a
permanent solution to the flawed payment formula.
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