I thought it would be important to share a link to the recent House Ways and Means Committee Health Subcommittee meeting on MedPAC's Annual March Report to Congress. Glenn Hackbarth, JD, MA, chair of MedPAC, gave an outstanding testimony, which can be downloaded and viewed here.

Hackbarth calls for the repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR), rebalancing payment, particularly by rebasing skilled nursing and home health, but the most important for us in cardiology, is the testimony starting at minute 53 regarding the differential between outpatient hospital and private office payment rates. He states that the most efficient provider is the private office and suggests that the payment rates may be adjusted to that level. MedPAC does not, at this time, make that recommendation but it appears to be coming.

Whether you are private or integrated, I would urge you to download the video and watch it. It is the "real deal" without spin.

Also, you can get the full MedPAC transcript here to read the actual discussion regarding the HOPPS and the PFS, beginning on page 193 of the transcript.

This post was authored by Jim Fasules, MD, FACC, senior vice president of Advocacy for the ACC.

Despite a rather recalcitrant Congress, last year saw very significant changes for health care and cardiology. After the swirling uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ACA, including its individual mandate, was constitutional. With the federal debate laid to rest, the action shifts to the states where for political and policy reasons a patchwork quilt of variability still leaves physicians, hospitals and patients perplexed on how to adapt to Medicaid expansion, the Exchanges and other insurance changes. Yet hidden in the rancor over the ACA were many challenges and changes effecting cardiology that the ACC tackled with a large degree of success.

For more than a decade, the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and the nearly 30 percent cuts associated with the flawed formula have threatened to impede improvements to the health care system and weaken the sustainability of practices nationwide. While a fight for permanent repeal of the SGR was unsuccessful, the last-minute “fiscal cliff” legislation delayed “the cliff” and its 27 percent cuts until 2014, at least restore a degree of financial security to physicians and ensure patients have continued access to quality care for 2013.

Besides helping achieve the SGR patch in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA), the ACC team succeeded in helping cardiology in two other important ways.  First, last year saw an aggressive campaign waged to close the in-office ancillary services exception (IOASE), also known as the Stark exception that allows us to perform tests and imaging in our offices, mounted by radiology and others. Its inclusion in the ATRA was successfully prevented. In addition, the team’s work with the Senate Finance, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees, following the stellar testimony of ACC Past President Douglas Weaver, MD, MACC in July, resulted in the law providing that participation in qualified clinical data registries, such as the NCDR®, will count as PQRS participation in 2014. While many details still need to be worked out, this will allow greater ease of avoiding the cuts that now occur for non-participation in PQRS.

Despite our successes, 2013 has many risks. The 2 percent across-the-board sequestration cut to Medicare and the even greater cuts to public health remain a threat when the two month delay in the ATRA expires on March 1. The ACC adamantly opposes the 2 percent Medicare sequester and the approximately 8 percent sequester cut to NIH, CDC, AHRQ and other crucial agencies, and the College will continue to urge Congress to prevent the cuts from going into effect. While successfully prevented in 2012, the forces working to close the IOASE have already marshaled an even stronger campaign this year. In response, we are working with a broad coalition to demonstrate to Congress and the Administration that closure of the exception would cause great disruption to patient care and would effectively end the viability of private practice and actually result in greater expenses for Medicare and insurers. Similarly, the College remains opposed to enactment of prior authorization for imaging services under Medicare.

On the medical liability reform front for this year, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take action on the HEALTH Act once again, which includes MICRA-type liability reforms. The College will continue to work with other stakeholders to support this act and advance supplemental medical liability reforms. Often missed in the College’s activities is its work for public health and science.  Again this year, the College will work to support federal funding for NIH; AHRQ; the NHLBI; the Health Resources and Services Administration’s AED program; the Prevention and Public Health Fund; the Million Hearts™ initiative; CDC’s Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program; and congenital heart disease research and surveillance.  As Congress struggles to find spending cuts, Graduate Medical Education (GME) finds itself targeted.  Advocacy with the help of the Academic Council is working with the AAMC to prevent any disruption to fellowship training.

As you can see 2013 holds many risks to cardiovascular care.  There are many opportunities for U.S. members to get involved in ACC's advocacy efforts, including learning more about ACCPAC, and participating in legislator practice visits and Legislative Conference.

Stay tuned to CardioSource.org/Advocacy throughout the year for health policy updates. To get involved in ACCPAC, visit accpacweb.org.

This post was authored by Mike Tempelhof, MD, cardiovascular disease fellow, Northwestern University Medical Center.

Beginning January 2013, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Budget Control Act of 2011, the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and additional health care reform programs as proposed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be implemented. Unless modified, several provisions within these policies will have a detrimental effect on the quality of patient care, physician autonomy, reimbursement and the future of medicine in America. It is imperative that health care practitioners have an appreciation of the critical health care policy issues and how their implementation will limit our ability to continue to provide high-quality, high-value health care in the future.

If implemented, the SGR formula will cut Medicare physician payments by 28 percent starting Jan. 1, 2013, and budget sequestration targets as defined in the 2011 Budget Control Act will cut Medicare reimbursement annually by an additional 2 percent. The combined 30 percent reduction in physician reimbursement will limit critical investments in diagnostic and therapeutic equipment, ultimately threatening Medicare beneficiaries’ access to quality care. These reductions in Medicare funding will have a dramatic impact on Graduate Medical Education (GME) and research funding, which will likely reduce the number of trainee positions and de-incentivize trainees from pursing specialized medical training. At a time of growing physician shortages in conjunction with an aging population, these cuts would have a significant impact on the quality and availability of US health care in the future. Finally, sequestration is estimated to reduce federal funding of all scientific research by 8.4 percent. Any reduction to the already resource deficient medical research sector will further limit the innovation and development of new medical therapies that our medical system depends on. Such setbacks would stifle the recent gains made in the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease.

The ACC is advocating to repeal the SGR, and stabilize sequestration payments until a new reimbursement system is in place. Juxtaposed to the current volume-based payment system, the ACC is strongly advocating for payment models that align payment incentives with evidence-based improvements in health care quality and outcomes. With a proactive approach to health care reform, the ACC has implemented quality improvement tools including clinical data base registries (NCDR, PINNACLE) and appropriate use criteria into clinical practice. This practice model affords the ACC the ability to hold cardiologists accountable for reaching benchmarks in standard of care. Evidence suggests that an evidence-based, incentive payment program modeled on similar quality improvement tools will improve the quality and cost-utility of health care in America. Therefore, the ACC strongly advocates for a quality and not volume-based payment system that aligns payment incentives with evidence-based medicine.

As our health care system evolves at this time of momentous reform, cardiologists and all practitioners must remain the patient’s strongest advocate by continuing to practice medicine with beneficence; delivering effective and efficient health care to all Americans. Collectively, we must act now to repeal the SGR and the sequestration cuts scheduled for January 2013. We must advocate for a meaningful medical liability reform and a sustainable payment system that incentivizes high-quality health care. Choosing not to act, would be the greatest risk to the future our patient’s lives and quality of their care.

This post was authored by Jim Fasules, MD, FACC, senior vice president of Advocacy for the ACC.

This week more than 350 ACC members were in our nation’s capital for the College’s 21st Annual Legislative Conference. ACC’s leaders, FACCs, FITs, CCAs, Practice Administrators and even international members were all on hand to participate in briefings on the critical health policy issues facing medicine today.

The conference kicked-off on Sunday with a special reception and dinner celebrating the 10th Anniversary of ACC’s Political Action Committee. During the keynote speech, Pulitzer Prize winner and syndicated Washington Post columnist George Will shared his insider’s perspective of the current political climate and the impending presidential election. Filled with facts and baseball references, Will was able to engage a packed room full of attendees from both sides of the aisle.

On Monday members heard from ACC President William Zoghbi, MD, FACC, who presented results from the 2012 Practice Census, (read more about the results on CardioSource.org), as well as from a range of politicos including an election outlook from Ronald Brownstein.

Earlier today Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX) was presented with the President’s Award for his distinguished public service and support of the College’s health policies that promote high-quality patient-centered care.  Soon after, conference participants headed to Capitol Hill for a day full of pre-arranged meetings with their members of Congress. Given the current health care landscape, members stressed the importance of Congress avoiding further harmful spending cuts and reforming the Medicare payment system. With 295 separate legislator meetings scheduled, the ACC’s commitment to quality and patient-centered care was heard loud and clear on the Hill.

Our actions and advocacy efforts this week are important for many reasons. We are dependent on Congressional action to prevent upcoming cuts from the sustainable growth rate (SGR). In addition, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has already proposed an array of new policies for the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (read ACC’s comments on the proposed rule here) that include both threats and opportunities for cardiology. These proposed policies include:

• The final year of transition to new PE RVUs causes small reductions to most cardiology services.
• A proposed multiple procedure payment reduction for a wide range of diagnostic cardiology services (e.g., echocardiography, stress tests, vascular ultrasound) would reduce the technical component payment for the second and any subsequent service by 25 percent if performed on the same day.  ACC has vigorously opposed this proposal.
• Medicare has proposed for the first time to pay for transitional care services for patients discharged from hospitals or skilled nursing facilities. Physicians providing care coordination services within the first 30 days of discharge would have the opportunity to bill Medicare for these services. The ACC sees this as an important step forward for Medicare, but expressed some concerns about the specifics of the proposal. We’re hopeful that CMS will make some changes to ensure that patients with cardiovascular disease benefit from the new policy.
• If CMS goes forward with its proposed rules, physicians in groups with 25 or more practitioners will be the first to be subject to the value-based payment modifier established in the Affordable Care Act. Also, beginning in 2015, groups of 25 or more will be subject to a 1 percent penalty or may be eligible for bonus payments based on PQRS participation and performance on quality and cost measures in 2013, and practices with 25 or more physicians and other practitioners will need to take action in the first quarter of 2013 to avoid the penalty and ensure potential eligibility for bonus payments.

Not included in the proposed rule, but of great significance to cardiology, we also expect 2013 coding and valuation changes to result in cuts of 20 percent or more for EP/ablation services and some PCI services, but exact impacts will not be available until Medicare releases payment information on Nov. 1.

Although CMS will review comments and release final decisions on these proposals soon, our efforts on the Hill this week will inevitably help raise awareness of the issues facing cardiology today. Stay tuned to the ACC Advocate and CardioSource.org for updates this fall. Also stay tuned for individual perspectives from Legislative Conference here on the blog in the coming days.

This post was authored by Kathy Blake, MD, FACC, member of the ACC’s Advocacy Steering Committee.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Same Doctor Visit, Double the Cost” (subscription required) detailed the shift we have seen across the country of hospital systems acquiring private practices, often leading to higher prices of services.
The article notes that “as physicians are subsumed into hospital systems, they can get paid for services at the systems’ rates, which are typically more generous than what insurers pay independent doctors. What’s more, some services that physicians previously performed at independent facilities, such as imaging scans, may start to be billed as hospital outpatient procedures, sometimes more than doubling the cost. The result is that the same service, even sometimes provided in the same location, can cost more once a practice signs on with a hospital.”

The article lays the groundwork for much of what the College has been advocating for over the past few years: the need for payment reform. The payers have noticed. The patients have noticed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as the article suggests, may have its hands (somewhat) tied by statute. The love affair with independent practice ended a long time ago. The infatuation of business with private payers and HMOs died awhile back. The current love affair, with integrated systems, is looking a bit tattered. The reality suggests that a variety of offerings across the full spectrum probably leads to a healthier delivery ecosystem, especially if there is transparency about cost and quality, and real competition based on accurate determination of value.

The article is timely as the 2012 Legislative Conference is right around the corner and will be touching on issues such as the College’s ongoing payment reform efforts, including advocating for the repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) and instead focusing on quality-based delivery and payment models. Also at Legislative Conference Dr. Zoghbi will give an update on the “State of Cardiology” with results from this year’s Practice Census (we remember the results from two years ago that started documenting this shift in private practice).

The current fee-for-service system in integrated models is not sustainable, and it is up to us to steer the payment reform decisions in the right direction.

The long-awaited U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was released yesterday. In a majority decision, the Court ruled that the ACA, including its individual mandate that virtually all Americans buy health insurance, is constitutional.

The ACA is the largest expansion of health care coverage since Medicare and Medicaid were initiated in the sixties. Having this decision behind us means that we can continue to move forward with supporting policies and provisions within the law that are in line with our overarching health care reform principles – particularly those that expand health care coverage, encourage preventive care, and foster innovative payment and delivery system models that reward quality and ensure value.

At the same time, the College will also continue to work with Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on provisions that affect cardiovascular care. Among those:

• Implementation of the controversial Independent Payment Advisory Board, a 15-member Board tasked with developing and presenting proposals to the president and Congress, starting in 2014, to extend the solvency of Medicare, slow cost growth, improve quality of care, and reduce national health expenditures. The College remains concerned by the authority granted to an independent body to determine payment cuts for only physicians, particularly in light of ongoing payment reductions as a result of the Medicare physician payment formula.
• Implementation of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act requiring that industry disclose payments to physicians and teaching hospitals, both direct and indirect. While the ACC supports the overarching objectives of the Act, the College has raised concerns regarding CMS’s interpretation and proposed implementation of the Act. Final regulations are expected in the coming months so stay tuned!

Outside of the ACA, there remains a lot of hard work before we can arrive at a sustainable health care system that emphasizes value and a strong patient-doctor relationship. In the coming months the College will actively be advocating for overarching payment and medical liability reforms that are critical for comprehensive health reform to be truly effective. In addition, our Advocacy team is focused on several regulatory proposals and legislative efforts that will have major impacts on cardiology. Among them:

• The 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (the proposed rule is expected any day);
• Additional cardiovascular coding changes as a result of continued bundling efforts;
• The annual battle to repeal/stop the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to calculate Medicare physician payment.

These topics, as well as life after the Supreme Court decision and the 2012 elections, will be the focus of the College’s annual Legislative Conference in Washington, DC, this September. (Registration is now open to all ACC members.)  Additionally, the ACC continues to be engaged with CMS, industry and other stakeholders as appropriate on all of these issues. It’s definitely a time of change for health care in the U.S. However, it’s this change that provides the most prospects for action. I’m excited by the opportunities not only for the College, but for the cardiovascular profession as a whole. Now is the time to leverage our successes over the last six decades in improving cardiovascular care and ensure that future policies and programs further these results. Let us work all together for this ultimate goal.

As we wrap up ACC.12 after soaking in all the new and best cardiovascular science and education, I’m continuously amazed at how much progress is made from these meetings. Over the past few days I’ve both presented with and had the honor to learn from some of the most astounding cardiovascular health care innovators in the field. Now the challenge lies in taking what we’ve learned and implementing it – and, as Immediate Past President David Holmes, MD, noted in his ACC.12 Opening Session address, using it to transform how we provide care to patients and work in partnership with others.

With the recent two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the start of the Supreme Court hearings of the constitutionality of it all, I’d be remiss not to also mention the timely discussions that took place throughout ACC.12 on health care reform and its impacts on everything from health IT, to imaging, to academia, to the future.

Yesterday I gave the presentation, “ACA for Dummies,” giving a play-by-play of the ACA’s nine separate independent titles, as part of a session that looked at where cardiology will be as a profession in 2015. The bottom line is even if the decision is to rid of the ACA we will still be faced with immense access, cost and quality problems. Our goal at the College is to ensure that we’re poised to help ensure these changes put patients first and reward physicians and other medical professionals for their commitment to quality and evidence-based care.  Congress’ traditional cost reduction strategies of price controls and caps on spending -- as in the broken SGR (or sgrrrr, expressed as a growl) Medicare payment formula -- just won’t work. Instead we need to systematically improve care.

Also yesterday, I was on a progressive panel discussion about the Future of Cardiovascular Diseases: Where Are We Going (and Where Do We Want to Go?) with ACC’s new President Bill Zoghbi, MD, President-Elect John Harold, MD, Million Hearts Director Janet Wright, MD, and others, which discussed the recent UN Summit on NCDs, and others initiatives to combat the growing epidemic of cardiovascular disease. I think Huon Gray, MD, said it best: “Since CV disease knows no boundaries with regards to the patients it affects, nor should the organization and cardiologists whose job it is to help them.”

Professionalism has to be a part of our changing future and the patient must be the center. We have to change the physician/patient relationship and move toward patient centered care, something that Zoghbi is focusing on during his presidential year. We’re not just embracing change, we need to lead change!

Overall it was a great meeting, folks and thanks to everyone who made the journey to the Windy City. Save the Date for ACC.13, March 9-12 in San Francisco!

PS the fun never stops here on Hollywood on the Potomac, check out my testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee here where I was able to discuss the need for more funding for cardiovascular disease research (just like what was presented at ACC.12), prevention and treatment.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) held a webinar last week to release its report, The State of the Nation’s Health Care 2012: How Bad Budget Choices and Broken Politics Are Undermining Progress in Health, And What Should be Done About It. During the webinar, ACP President Virginia Hood and ACP Advocacy SVP Bob Doherty discussed recent progress and current challenges as they see them:

• Health care costs increased at the lowest rate in 50 years, continuing an eight year slow-down, although some of the most recent drop may be due to Americans forgoing needed care.
• Even so, spending on health care has reached an all-time high, and is projected to continue to grow faster than the economy.
• Increased federal spending associated with an aging population and rising costs of health care continue to pose the greatest challenge to the fiscal health of the U.S.
• Health status has improved on several key indicators of population health, including reductions in all five leading causes of death, but disparities continue for many demographic groups and poorer residents.
• The Affordable Care Act has begun to reduce barriers to care for tens of millions of persons, including young adults, children with pre-existing conditions, and seniors, however more than 46 million still went without health insurance.
• Despite a dramatic increase in primary care physicians and other health professionals serving in underserved communities, the U.S. still is facing a projected shortage of more than 40,000 primary care physicians.

The report urges repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGRrrr) formula and transition to patient-centered payment models; reductions in the costs of defensive medicine; promotion of high-value, cost-conscious care; and more.

All in all, ACC would agree with much of their enumeration of risks and opportunities. I would have liked to have heard more about how registries and systematic quality improvement could help lead the nation out of the rising cost dilemma we are in. What are your thoughts?

While listening to the President’s third State of the Union (SOTU) address since taking office, it was clear his messaging was very much the start of his campaign for re-election with themes like creating jobs and the economy. But unlike like his previous speeches, which I blogged about here and here, the President only touched on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a few times, saying “I will not go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy, deny you coverage or charge women differently from men.” Although the ACA is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, I predict much of what the ACA has already implemented will NOT be undone for powerful political reasons.

The President mentioned innovation and research funding for medical advancements several times, claiming “don’t gut these investments in our budget. Don’t let other countries win the race for the future.” This innovation is something the ACC fully supports and stands behind, as it is innovation that will help combat the number one killer in the U.S.

Although the President didn’t speak of tort reform as he did in last year’s SOTU speech, he did speak of reforming Medicare, “I'm prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long term costs of Medicare and Medicaid, and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors.” This is encouraging as we are slowly approaching the deadline to do something about the sustainable growth rate (or SGRrrr expressed as a growl, Medicare’s broken physician payment formula). The profession has been urging Congress to use money from military savings to permanently repeal the SGR, noting it is politically still a long shot.

The President also spoke of putting politics aside to come together as one team to make some real changes. Let’s hope there can be some bipartisan compromise this year to address means of appropriately addressing the deficit reduction to include eliminating the SGR, but also without destroying health care in the process. We need to promote the paradigm shift of policy thinking from “cutting care” to “improving care” in order to address the deficit.

Congress has given us all a holiday gift and has passed an amended version of the Senate's $30 billion package that would, in part, delay the Jan. 1 Medicare physician payment cut for two months. The amended language calls on Senate leadership to agree to a conference early next year to negotiate a full-year extension of current Medicare reimbursement rates and the payroll tax holiday. This measure cleared both chambers by unanimous consent and President Obama has already signed the legislation into law.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and rest assured that we will come back in full force in 2012 to work for a permanent fix so we won’t have to deal with this never-ending SGR madness.