VCACC Advocacy Alert: Cardiologists and Care Associates March on the Hill This past Tuesday 11 VCACC members attended the ACC Legislative Conference and converged on lawmakers' offices on Capitol Hill. Emphasizing our increasing focus on team-based cardiovascular care, the group included three Cardiac Care Associates and eight cardiologists. Your Virginia Delegation's overall impression of Congress was one of apathy and lack of energy; it is simply much quieter than last year because so much energy is going into campaigning. Because there will be a lame duck session, and given the number anticipated seat changes, there seems to be a lack of urgency to press for additional changes in health care organization and delivery. Our representatives (and their staffs) let us know that they have been hearing much more from patients about access to physicians as Medicare participation declines. Our number one issue was fixing the flawed SGR. As you know, unless Congress acts all physicians will see a 23% cut to fees on December 1, 2010 and an addition 6.5% cut on January 1, 2011. These are untenable cuts and our lawmakers clearly understood that. Realistically a complete fix to the SGR is not possible; as much as the medical community is united on this, the votes simply do not exist. ACC along with other medical societies is specifically asking for a 13 month fix to add stability to practices. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Health Care Reform) contains a great deal of unknowns, as the Secretary of Health and Human Services is directed to implement through regulation (the devil will be in the details) and much of it at the state level. We emphasized to our lawmakers that one part of it - the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) should be removed. This 15-person board has complete control over physician payment (but does not control payments to hospitals until 2010 at the earliest) and we believe that it lacks oversight from physicians and patients. We asked either to eliminate this provision, or make it universal to all those who are receiving payment. Singling out physicians is simply not just. Our final ask to lawmakers was to sign on to a bill that will be introduced in the House this week by Rep. Gonzalez, which would mandate that CMS phase in any cuts to physician fees that are over 15%. This is a budget neutral bill that applies to all specialities. Recognizing that continued payment cuts are a strong possibility, we asked that if these are considered, they should at minimum be phased in, to give us additional time to react to their impact. What can we at the VCACC do? Please be responsive to ACC legislative alerts. Send letters, make calls. More recommendations will be forthcoming from our VCACC Advocacy Team as the Congress meets. We're vigilant but need the backing from members to call when we request this. Remember that changes negatively affecting patient access must continue to be brought to the attention of our legislators at the highest level. John Dent, MD, FACC President Bob Shor, MD, FACC Advocacy Chair CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER MATERIALS