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Urgent Action Alert

Bill on Senate Floor Next Week to Repeal SGR! Your Immediate Action is Necessary.

Urge Your Senators to VOTE YES on the Medicare Physician Fairness Act  

The Senate is poised to take action on the "Medicare Physician Fairness Act" (S.1776) introduced Tuesday evening by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The bill would eliminate the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that is used to determine physician Medicare payments.  Importantly, the bill wipes out years of accumulated debt under the SGR formula, and creates a new baseline for further action on physician payments. 

Physicians are facing a 22% cut in Medicare payments on January 1, 2010. The new bill introduced this week would eliminate that cut.  This legislation is an imperative first step in dealing with the long standing physician Medicare payment problem.    

The "Medicare Physician Fairness Act" (S. 1776) is NOT the "America's Healthy Future Act" that was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee earlier this week and does not change our position on the Senate Finance Committee bill. The details of comprehensive health care reform legislation, including what a future payment update system might look like, have not been determined.  ASPS supports S. 1776 as it accomplishes a long-standing goal of repealing the SGR. 

It is imperative that Plastic Surgeons contact their Senators and urge them to support the "Medicare Physician Fairness Act" bill by voting for the final bill and all procedural votes to advance this bill.  Your engagement is vital.  The Senate is expected to vote on S. 1776 early next week.  Time is of the essence, so please call your Senators by dialing 1-800-833-6354.   

Talking Points:

  • Support S. 1776 -- the Medicare Physician Fairness Bill - and all motions to support advancing this important legislation
  • A 22% Medicare physician payment cut in January and continued payment problems attributable to the SGR endanger Senior's access to necessary care
  • Further short term "patches" to temporarily solve this problem only exacerbate the situation and are unacceptable
  • When speaking with Republicans, emphasize that this is not the health reform bill.  Many have opposed the SGR for years, and that WE, the physicians, need their support on this issue
  • While this bill would increase the budget deficit, it is much more expensive to continue putting a band-aid on 40% in physician payment cuts over the next five years than to fix this now - once and for all!

New Evidence-Based Advisories Announced

The ASPS Patient Safety Committee is pleased to announce the publication of the Evidence-Based Patient Safety Advisory for Ambulatory Surgery. This supplement, which  serves to update previous advisories and introduce new topics, is a collection of evidence-based articles aimed at evaluating and managing the ambulatory and office-based surgical patient. The supplement is published as part of the October 2009 issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Together, the following patient safety advisories provide a comprehensive manual for delivering high quality care and improving outcomes in ambulatory surgery.

We thank the authors and ASPS for their efforts in creating this first class supplement, and hope you'll find it of great value in your clinical practice of plastic surgery.

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Plastic Surgery 2009 Leadership Summit

Kick off your experience at Plastic Surgery 2009 in Seattle with an exciting session geared toward the plastic surgeon leader!

The half-day program begins with a dynamic presentation on the elements of leadership from bestselling author and presidential historian, Michael Beschloss. Beschloss is an award-winning historian and the author of eight books-including the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1941-1945.

The session will also include an interactive advocacy panel featuring state legislators, government relations professionals and seasoned physician advocates who have successfully advanced plastic surgery’s interests at the state level. There will also be a special segment on state and regional society best practices and a leadership Q and A session.

Be sure to make your travel arrangements for Plastic Surgery 2009 with the Leadership Summit in mind. Register for this session TODAY at www.plasticsurgery2009.org

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Status of Health Reform

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives headed home for “August recess” on July 31st, leaving behind the outlines of a nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-28 to pass H.R. 3200, the “American Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” ending a contentious marathon markup. A different bill has already passed the House Ways and Means Committee, and the two bills will have to be merged by the Rules Committee before heading to the House floor for a vote this fall.

In the Senate, the HELP Committee has already voted to approve their version of Health Reform that deals mostly with insurance issues. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over tax and Medicare issues and has not yet released their bill. Currently, a bipartisan group of three Republicans and three Democrats are attempting to negotiate a bipartisan bill for Senate Finance, and have set a deadline of September 15th for doing so.

Read more about the status of health reform in the U.S. House and Senate.

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FTC to Delay Enforcement of Red Flags Rule Until Nov. 1, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delayed the enforcement date of the "Red Flags Rule" until Nov. 1, 2009. The "Red Flags Rule" requires certain businesses to develop and implement written identity theft prevention and detection programs to protect consumers. The deadline for compliance has previously been extended twice, and the new compliance date of Nov. 1, 2009 is a result of continued advocacy by the AMA and organized medicine who object to the applicability of this rule to health care providers and other professionals. ASPS continues to support efforts to persuade the FTC and Congress that physicians are not "creditors" and should not be subject to this rule. However, in the interim, the AMA has provided on its Website a guidance document, along with sample policies, to help physicians incorporate a simple identity theft prevention and detection program into their existing compliance and HIPAA security and privacy policies. Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/no-index/physician-resources/red-flags-rule.shtml to view these materials and prepare for the Nov. 1, 2009 deadline.

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ASPS Applauds Introduction of the CARES Act of 2009

Thanks to the efforts of ASPS Key Contacts, S. 1235/H.R. 1339, the "Children's Access to Reconstructive Evaluation and Surgery Act" (CARES) was re-introducedin the 111th Congress. This bi-partisan legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), and Arlen Specter (D-PA) and in the House of Representatives by Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Patrick Tiberi (R-OH), and Bart Gordon (D-TN). The CARES Act would require insurance companies to provide coverage for the treatment of a minor child's congenital or developmental deformity or disorder due to trauma, infection, tumor, or disease. Read more about the CARES Act.

We urge you to join our grassroots campaign and contact your Members of Congress and ask that they cosponsor the bill. To automatically send an email letter to Congress, visit the ASPS Advocacy Center. You will be able to tailor the letter.

ASPS is also looking for cases where a child's reconstructive surgery has been denied by private insurance and particularly, where the child's family has been forced to seek coverage through Medicaid or other government health programs. If you (or your staff) have an example you can share with us, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please contact Lori Shoaf, ASPS Director Federal Government Affairs, at 202-672-1518 or lshoaf@plasticsurgery.org. Additionally, you can provide your stories at the Share Your Story section of our website. These stories will strengthen our advocacy efforts.

As the climate on the Hill turns to health care reform, ASPS will work diligently with Members of Congress to increase the number of cosponsors and seek opportunities to move the legislation.

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