| America's physicians rally in Washington D.C. Physicians from across the country held a rally on April 2 at Capitol Hill's Upper Senate Park to urge support for the Save Medicare Act of 2008 (S. 2785). The bill would prevent a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare physician payments planned for July 1, retain current levels for the remainder of this year and enact a 1.8 percent increase for 2009. The bill also continues rural extender provisions that are set to expire, such as the floor for Work GPCIs and the bonus for physician scarcity areas. Read more... |
| IMS supports Certificate of Merit The Iowa Medical Society is once again supporting a bill in the Iowa Legislature that would help ensure that only medical malpractice cases with merit proceed to trial. This bill would require a plaintiff's attorney to find a medical expert to review a case before it's filed. The expert then files a "certificate of merit" that states that the facts of a case have been examined and there is merit to allegations that inappropriate care was given. Read more... |
| Trial lawyers pursue medical record fees The Iowa Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) has made medical record copy fees their top legislative priority. Senate File 522 would change the reimbursement structure so that all providers would be reimbursed at levels equal to those under the workers' compensation structure. IMS is opposing this legislation, as the current record charge allowances do not adequately consider the resources necessary for medical record maintenance and production. Read more... |
| New legislative session brings opportunities and challanges The Iowa Medical Society is already busy with the 2008 legislative session and a host of policy issues we hope to advance over the next few months. Read more... |
| IMS monitoring commission bill The second bill from the legislature's health care task force has been released. Read more... |
| AMA releases updated data on pending Medicare cuts If Congress does not take action, Medicare physician payments will be cut by 10.6 % in July 2008, with an additional 5% cut scheduled for 2009. This means Iowa physicians will lose $110 million for the care of elderly and disabled patients over that 18 month period. Read more... |
| Physicians thank Braley and Harkin for Medicare bills Iowa physicians are praising U.S. Congressman Bruce Braley and Senator Tom Harkin for introducing bills in the House and Senate to correct inequitable treatment of rural states like Iowa in the federal Medicare program. Click here to read Congressman Bruce Braley's statment. |
| AMA launches new campaign for the uninsured The AMA is kicking off a three-year campaign to spur action to cover more of the nearly 45 million people in the U.S. who have no health insurance. Volunteers from the AMA and the Iowa Medical Society were at the Iowa State Fair for the AMA-sponsored "Voice for the Uninsured Day."Read more... |
| Iowa Senate passes Medicare resolution The Iowa Senate has passed a resolution calling on Iowa's five U.S. Congressmen and two Senators to place a high priority on enacting a remedy to the disparity in physician Medicare reimbursement. The resolution also calls for federal legislation to eliminate the 10% reduction that is to occur in physician payments in 2008. Read Senate Resolution 47... |
| AMA advocacy kit The AMA has released some excellent background materials that show the devastating effects of low Medicare reimbursement. The AMA material also includes some good information on the uninsured. Read more... |
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