IMS Health Reform Update
September 17, 2009
IMS President Michael Kitchell just returned from meeting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Find out what he told IMS members about these meetings and the progress Congress is making on health reform efforts, especially the new bill that was just released by the Senate Finance Committee (PDF 277KB).
A message from IMS President Michael Kitchell, MD
IMS PRN - September 16, 2009
On September 9, I visited four of Iowa's congressional offices to advocate for our priorities in health care reform legislation. Our main message was to push for a bipartisan bill that would help bring affordable health insurance coverage to all Americans. We also urged our elected officials to reform our Medicare payment system by eliminating the flawed SGR formula and reducing the geographic inequity that Iowa physicians have endured for many years.
We were fortunate to have a productive discussion with Senator Grassley and his health care aide Sue Walden. You will be hearing a lot in the media today about Senator Max Baucus and the Senate Finance committee bill, which was released late this morning. There is no government-run public option in the Finance committee bill, but it does include start-up money for non-profit cooperatives in each state. This measure comes from the last of five congressional committees that need to approve health care proposals before they can be taken up by the full House and Senate.
Unfortunately, the Finance committee bill has a temporary fix for the SGR formula and not a permanent one. Senator Grassley will attempt to add language to require CMS to review the accuracy of the GPCIs, and to support more payment reforms that lead to more pay for value. Senator Grassley talked about the tremendous pressure he is receiving from his own party as well as the Democrats. We wished him well and strongly urged him to work out compromises to make a good bipartisan health care reform bill.
We also met with Senator Harkin's health care aide, Jenelle Krishnamoorthy, as Senator Harkin was accepting his new role as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee. Senator Harkin will be extremely valuable for Iowa in his new position because he will be present when the House and Senate bills are reconciled in the conference committee later this fall.
Thanks in large part to Congressman Bruce Braley's influence in his key role on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, there is strong assurance from the Democratic leadership that there will be legislative language in the final House bill to have the Institute on Medicine (IOM) initiate Pay for Value payment reform incentives as well as fully review the accuracy of the GPCIs. Braley's aide Mike Goodman noted that there will be $8 billion of funding in the House bill for correction of the GPCIs. The House bill also has some initiatives for liability reform which both Congressmen Braley and Congressman Tom Latham support. We had a good meeting with Congressman Latham, and he is very supportive of our IMS positions as well.
As President Obama said, there is agreement on 80% of health reform issues. Health care is exceedingly complex, and it should be no surprise that there are passionate disagreements regarding these proposals. But as many have said, the status quo is unacceptable. I remain optimistic that we will have a health reform bill this year. Please keep up to date by visiting our Web site at www.iowamedical.org.
Michael Kitchell, MD
President, Iowa Medical Society