On
Nov. 12, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
released a white paper on health care reform titled “Call
to Action – Health Reform 2009.” The paper is
the culmination of the Finance Committee’s research
on health care reform in 2008. It is not a legislative proposal.
In the paper, Sen. Baucus discusses several areas important
to health care reform, including: increasing access; revising
the health care delivery system; strengthening the health
care infrastructure; and financing a more efficient health
care system. Sen. Baucus intends to introduce legislation
early next year.
The ACC this week will meet with key Senate offices to discuss
efforts to reform the health care system. At these meetings,
the ACC will stress the need for health care reform to include
policies that encourage patient value and access to quality
care. For the full summary, click
here. For more information about ACC’s health care
reform efforts, visit: http://qualityfirst.acc.org.
REGULATORY
ACC,
MedAxiom Hold Cardiac Device Webinar
More
than 400 cardiovascular professionals last week participated
in a Webinar intended to assist ACC members in understanding
revisions to cardiac device monitoring codes made under in
the final 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The Webinar,
sponsored by ACC and MedAxiom, discussed changes to pacemakers
and ICD interrogations and programming sessions, remote monitoring,
ICMs and ILRs. CPT 2009 includes 23 new codes for reporting
these services. Speaking on the Webinar were Bruce Wilkoff,
M.D., F.A.C.C., director of cardiac pacing and tachyarrhythmia
devices at the Cleveland Clinic, Linda Gates-Striby, CCS-P,
ACS-CA, compliance manager at The Care Group, and Cathie Biga,
president and CEO of Cardiovascular Management of Illinois.
Wilkoff, Gates-Striby and Biga provided suggestions as to
what practices can do now to start preparing for the changes.
For program
materials, visit the Quality First Web site by clicking
here. The ACC will continue to provide detailed information
about the Physician Fee Schedule. Look to ACC.org and Cardiology
for more information.
CMS
Releases Improper Payment Rates
Improper
payments to Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) contractors have
declined by $400 million over the past fiscal year to $10.4
billion, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
reported on Nov. 17. The rate dropped to 3.6 percent in 2008,
down from 3.9 percent in 2007 and 14 percent in 1996. CMS
reports annually on improper payment rates for Medicare, Medicaid
and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
CMS for the first time measured the improper payment rates
for Medicare Advantage and determined an improper payment
rate of 10.6 percent, or $6.8 billion, in calendar year 2006.
CMS reported that the national composite error rate for Medicaid
in FY 2007 was 10.5 percent or $32.7 billion. The national
composite error rate for SCHIP in FY 2007 was 14.7 percent
or $1.2 billion. Improper payments rates include those payments
that may have been paid incorrectly and do not necessarily
reflect fraud. For Medicare FFS, most improper payments are
due to claims for services that were medically unnecessary
or incorrectly coded. For more information, click
here.
FDA
News Updates
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a replacement
heart valve manufactured by ATS Medical, Inc., called the
ATS 3f® Aortic Bioprosthesis, Model 1000. The device is
indicated for the replacement of diseased, damaged, or malfunctioning
native or prosthetic aortic valves. The design of the valve
is intended to mimic the aortic valve’s function as
a tubular structure whose sides collapse in response to pressure.
For more information, visit the FDA Web site here.
The FDA has approved
CV Therapeutics’ Ranexa as a first-line indication for
the treatment for chronic angina. The revised labeling provides
information that indicates Ranexa can reduce arrhythmias,
new-onset atrial fibrillation and bradycardia in coronary
artery disease patients, and reduce hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
in diabetes patients, according to the company. Read
more about the approval from Cardiovascular Business
Magazine.
QUALITY
Cardiologists
Attend AMA House of Delegates
TThe
American Medical Association (AMA) in early November held
its House of Delegates (HOD) interim meeting in Orlando, Fla.
The HOD is made up of representatives of medical specialty
groups, state medical societies and service organizations.
In her opening remarks, AMA President Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D.,
Ph.D., urged the House of Medicine to continue communicating
with elected officials on the critical issues of health care
reform, physician Medicare cuts, access for the uninsured,
rising costs and comparative effectiveness research. Former
ACC President and Health System Reform Blue Ribbon panelist
Arthur Garson, M.D., M.A.C.C., discussed reform prospects
with the incoming Obama Administration and new Congress. The
HOD also paid tribute to AMA Immediate Past President Ronald
M. Davis, M.D., who passed away Nov. 6.
During the meeting, the Section on Cardiovascular Diseases
chaired by Jerry D. Kennett, M.D., F.A.C.C., reviewed and
discussed the many reports and proposed resolutions submitted
by the HOD groups. General resolution topics submitted to
the AMA Board of Trustees by the HOD ranged from continuing
to advocate for improvements in the Physician Quality Reporting
Initiative, establishing a strategic priority of requiring
all children to have adequate health insurance, and adopting
the “Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical
Home.”
Federal
Committee on HIT Formally Concludes Duties
The
federal advisory committee American Health Information Community
(AHIC) on Nov. 12 formally concluded its work. The committee
was charged with determining recommendations for ways to accelerate
the adoption of health information technology, to be given
to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary
Michael Leavitt. AHIC brought together more than 160 public
and private sector health IT experts, and held 25 public meetings
and 176 public AHIC workgroup meetings to develop recommendations
for advancing health IT. Its work resulted in 200 recommendations
that addressed a wide variety of enablers and barriers to
health IT. For more information about AHIC’s recommendations,
visit the HHS Web site here.
