TMA ANNOUNCES: “SENATE HEALTH PLAN BAD MEDICINE FOR OUR PATIENT”
With extensive input from our Task Force on Health System Reform and the Council on Legislation, the TMA Board of Trustees determined that the association will not support the U.S. Senate’s draft health reform bill (HR 3590) until it undergoes some necessary and significant changes. “We know that our patients — insured and uninsured, elderly and poor — need a much more efficient, effective, and accountable health care system,” TMA President Bill Fleming, MD, said in a news release we issued before the Senate’s initial vote on Saturday. “But, on the whole, the Senate health plan is bad medicine for our patients.” TMA b

A TURKEY-TIME SCORECARD ON HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM
In case you’ve lost track or haven’t been paying close attention, here’s a recap of the status of health system reform bills and the SGR fix to date, as well as TMA’s position on these bills:On Oct. 21, the U.S. Senate fell short of the 60 votes necessary to debate S 1776 by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) (PDF), the Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009. The motion failed on a vote of 47-53. The bill would have repealed the SGR payment formula. It also would have stopped the planned 21-percent cut in fees sche

HAPPY THANKSGIVING; EVPGRAM TAKES A BREAK
I hope you enjoy the holiday with friends and family, and remember everything for which you are thankful. Your EVPGram will take a one-week holiday and be back in your in-box on Dec. 7.

MEDICARE ENROLLMENT DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN. 31
With all the uncertainty in Washington and the 21-percent cut in physicians’ Medicare payments set to take effect the first of the year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have given you an extra month to make up your mind on participating in Medicare next year. Physicians have until Jan. 31 to decide if they want to change their participation status in the Medicare program for 2010. The effective date for any status change, however, remains Jan. 1, and it will be in force for the entire year. You can find the Medicare participation agreement form on t

House Passes SGR Fix Bill; Burgess Is Lone Republican to Vote “AYE”
The U.S. House of Representatives today (Nov. 19, 2009) passed HR 3961 on a 243-183 vote. The bill would stop the 21-percent cut in physicians' Medicare payments scheduled for Jan. 1. It would replace the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) with a new formula that is still based on growth in the gross domestic product. It also would set future payment rate changes separately for evaluation and management services and for procedural codes. House passage of HR 3961 is critical if a permanent SGR fix is going to be included in Congress' final health reform package.Unfortunately, Capitol Hill partisan politics is complicating what already is a terribly complicated problem of heal