The PPC continues to monitor MedPAC’s work, particularly its recommendations for changes in Medicare payment for care provided around a hospitalization to encourage care coordination and efficiency. To reduce hospital readmissions, the commission’s June report to Congress recommended, among other things, that CMS conduct a voluntary pilot program to test bundled payment for all services around a hospitalization for select conditions.
Value-Based Purchasing
Together with SHM’s Performance and Standards Committee, the PPC continues to monitor and comment on CMS’s value-based purchasing (VBP) initiatives, as well as educate SHM members on what the initiatives mean for hospitalists. On June 11, SHM hosted a teleconference on VBP. It featured Thomas Valuck, MD, JD, medical officer and senior adviser, Center for Medicare Management, CMS. In his presentation, Dr. Valuck acknowledged the unique role hospitalists play in VBP programs, and he commended SHM for its proactive stance and constructive engagement with CMS.
On Aug. 29, the PPC submitted comments on CMS’s proposed FY 2009 physician payment rule. This rule proposed additional improvements to the PQRI; discussed CMS’s interest in developing a “Physician Compare” Web site to report quality of care and value for services provided by physicians; solicited comments on CMS’s proposed preventable hospital-acquired conditions; and proposed a new, targeted exception to the physician self-referral statute for programs using economic incentives to foster high quality, cost-effective care. Visit http://www.hospital medicine.org/Content/Navigation Menu/AdvocacyPolicy/LegislativeRegulatoryUpdates/Legislative_Regulato.htm for a summary of the final rule.
Increased AHRQ Appropriations
Through its participation in the Friends of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) coalition, visits to Congressional offices by members and staff, and grassroots advocacy via our legislative action center, SHM continues to advocate for increased funding for this important agency. Last fall, President Bush signed a continuing resolution, P.L. 110-329, which funds government agencies, including AHRQ, at current levels through March 6. The resolution was necessary because none of the 12 individual FY 2009 appropriations bills, including the Labor Department-Health and Human Services-Education Department measure, which contains funding for AHRQ and the National Institutes of Health, had been enacted into law. Early this year lawmakers are expected to attempt to pass the remaining appropriations bills and forward them to President-elect Obama.
What’s Ahead?
This year promises to be busy on the healthcare policy front. SHM is poised to make major contributions to the debate, given its advocacy on key issues over the past year and the goodwill it has generated among policymakers. The PPC will devote considerable time to crafting hospital medicine-specific recommendations on health reform, including bundling and its implications for hospitalists; and providing input to CMS’s value-based purchasing initiatives, including the agency’s report to Congress, which is due May 2010. We also will continue to pursue a separate CMS specialty billing code for hospitalists.
The PPC strives to keep SHM members informed about legislative and regulatory activities through monthly updates posted to the advocacy section of the SHM Web site, articles in The Hospitalist, and items in the new SHM e-Wire. Letters to Congress and CMS are located on the Web site, as well.
When an important issue arises, you likely will receive an e-mail urging you to visit our legislative action center (www.hospitalmedicine.org/beheard) and contact your members of Congress. We depend on your involvement in the legislative process in order to be effective in Washington. TH
Laura Allendorf is senior advisor for advocacy and government affairs for the Society of Hospital Medicine. Contact her at [email protected].