A coalition of medical specialties said Tuesday that it supports a bill to repeal the controversial cost-control board in President Obama's signature healthcare law.
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Bringing into focus a clear and distinct view of the rest of this decade in Texas health care. Offering a sharp perception of what lies ahead and what we must change to keep us all healthy.
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A commission created to investigate the shortage of health care professionals has never met in two and a half years because it has no money from Congress or the administration.
Texas Medical Association's insight:
Ensure an Adequate Health Care Workforce
Texas has a large, growing population that is growing sicker and needs more and better-coordinated health care services. Unfortunately, Texas — even more than most of the rest of the country — needs more physicians and other health care professionals. Although our 2003 liability reforms have brought an influx of new physicians, the current supply won’t be able to keep up with the demand, especially with expanded insurance coverage from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). We need more physicians and other health care professionals working in all parts of the state, especially in rural and border Texas. We need to invest more in our medical schools and graduate medical education training programs. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that allied health professionals — who haven’t gone to medical school — can fill the gap as independent practitioners. Instead, we need to work on building physician-led health care teams that can safely meet the diverse needs of the Texas population. Delete the scoop?
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TMA Says: Unfortunately, the PPACA was not the genesis of physician regulation, nor are these busy rulemakers limited to the federal government. “An extensive regulatory framework … arose haphazardly, with little consideration of how the pieces fit together,” the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice reported in 2004.[i] The huge numbers of state and federal regulations and their haphazard nature place tremendous burdens on physicians’ practices, most of which are still small businesses. These rules insert themselves between physicians and their patients, frequently do little to improve patient care, and divert physicians’ time and energy away from the patients in the exam room. We need to repeal, reorganize, and reprioritize if we want a functional health care delivery system. [i] Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition. July 2004. Available at http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/health_care/204694.pdf. Accessed April 2012.
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Texas has a large, growing population that is growing sicker and needs more and better-coordinated health care services. Unfortunately, Texas – even more than most of the rest of the country – needs more physicians and other health care professionals. Although our 2003 liability reforms have brought an influx of new physicians, the current supply won’t be able to keep up with the demand. We need more physicians and other health care professionals working in all parts of the state, especially in rural and border Texas. We need to invest more in our medical schools and graduate medical education training programs. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that allied health professionals – who haven’t gone to medical school – can fill the gap as independent practitioners. Instead, we need to work on building physician-led health care teams that can safely meet the diverse needs of the Texas population. Delete the scoop?
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TMA Says: Texas has a large, growing population that is growing sicker and needs more and better-coordinated health care services. Unfortunately, Texas – even more than most of the rest of the country – needs more physicians and other health care professionals. Although our 2003 liability reforms have brought an influx of new physicians, the current supply won’t be able to keep up with the demand, especially if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) withstands constitutional scrutiny. We need more physicians and other health care professionals working in all parts of the state, especially in rural and border Texas. We need to invest more in our medical schools and graduate medical education training programs. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that allied health professionals – who haven’t gone to medical school – can fill the gap as independent practitioners. Instead, we need to work on building physician-led health care teams that can safely meet the diverse needs of the Texas population. Delete the scoop?
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Scoop.it!
Texas has a large, growing population that is growing sicker and needs more and better-coordinated health care services. Unfortunately, Texas – even more than most of the rest of the country – needs more physicians and other health care professionals. . Delete the scoop?
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Repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board
Replacing the SGR will be meaningless unless Congress also repeals the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Leaving both in place would create cruel and unusual double jeopardy for physicians who want to care for senior citizens and military families. The PPACA created a 15-member IPAB to recommend measures to reduce Medicare spending if costs exceed targeted growth rates set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
The PPACA prohibits the panel from recommending changes to eligibility, coverage, or other factors that drive utilization of health care services. This means the board will have only one option — cut payments. And through 2019, hospitals, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare prescription drug plans, and health care professionals other than physicians are exempt.102 This means the board will have only one option — cut Medicare payments to physicians. Cuts the board recommends will automatically take effect, unless Congress acts to suspend them.
As we’ve seen with the SGR, it’s obvious that cuts the IPAB enacts will devastate Medicare beneficiaries’ ability to find physicians to care for them. The issue of Medicare spending for 3.8 million Texans is too important to be left in the hands of an unaccountable board that makes decisions based solely on cost.