ACC
Continues Health Reform Message The
ACC continues to take its health care reform message to lawmakers
and the media. The ACC released a statement
about the Senate Finance Committee proposal, and has sent
a letter
to Committee Chair Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) articulating
its response to the proposal. Meanwhile, ACC CEO Jack Lewin,
M.D., has appeared in several national media outlets discussing
health care reform, including MedPage
Today and the New York Times’ Prescriptions
blog. The ACC supports reform that:
Ensures
access to affordable health care for all Americans;
Includes
delivery and payment system reforms that provide incentives
for improvement of quality and outcomes;
Repeals
the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to calculate
Medicare physician payment;
Emphasizes
professionalism and patient-centered care;
Improves
care coordination across sources and sites through interoperable
health information technology;
Implements
medical liability reforms that reduce legal and defensive
medicine costs; and
Promotes
comparative effectiveness research to better inform guidelines,
performance measures and appropriate use criteria.
On the
proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, following a highly
successful 2009
Legislative Conference, ACC leaders continued meetings
on the Hill last week to gather opposition to its implementation.
More than one-fourth of the members of Congress have written
letters or asked questions of the Department of Health and
Human Services about the rule’s implementation. For
more information on ACC’s health care reform campaign,
Quality First, visit: http://qualityfirst.acc.org.
REGULATORY
CMS
Eliminates Noncoverage of MRI for Blood Flow Determination The
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized
its proposal to eliminate blanket noncoverage of MRI for blood
flow determination and will allow local carriers to determine
coverage policies for this service. The ACC worked with Society
of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and the American College
of Radiology to request that CMS consider current evidence
on MRI blood flow determination and reverse its decision on
noncoverage. Removal of the restriction on coverage will permit
local carriers to cover blood flow determination performed
with cardiac MR studies. In addition, a CPT coding change
to be implemented in January 2009 will enable correct reporting
of services. The CMS decision memo is online.
FDA
Extends Tobacco Act Comment Period The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the comment
period for the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention
and Tobacco Control Act until Dec. 28. The deadline for comments
originally was Sept. 29. The FDA said it received an extension
request articulating concern that the 90-day comment period
did not allow sufficient time to develop a meaningful or thoughtful
response to the notice. Comments from the public will inform
FDA's actions implementing the Tobacco Act. Comments can be
submitted at: http://www.regulations.gov
or in hard copy to: Division of Dockets Management (HFA305),
Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, RM. 1061,
Rockville, MD 20852. The FDA notice is available online.
HHS
Announces $27.8M in Health IT Awards The
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius recently announced $27.8 million in awards for electronic
health records (EHR) and other health information technology
(IT) for health center-controlled networks and large multi-site
health centers. The funds are part of the $2 billion allotted
to HHS under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 to expand health care services to low-income and uninsured
individuals through its health center program. The grants
will support EHR implementation; the implementation of a variety
of health IT innovations, including the creation of health
information exchanges among different providers and the incorporation
of health IT at dental delivery sites; and help health centers
devise plans to use existing EHRs to improve patient health
outcomes. For more information about ACC’s health IT
initiatives and helpful resources, visit: http://www.acc.org/healthit.
FDA
News Updates The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified health care professionals
of a Class 1 recall of Medtronic SC Catheters and Revision
Kit Models: 8709SC, 8731SC, 8578, and 8596SC when paired with
the Medtronic IsoMed Pump Model 8472, due to a design incompatibility
resulting in a physical interference between the SC catheter
connector and the IsoMed pump. This can prevent the SC catheter
from completely connecting to the IsoMed pump, which may lead
to disruptions of therapy and revision surgery and pose a
risk of serious injury or death. Read the complete MedWatch
2009 Safety summary.
The FDA
has approved a smaller version of Johnson & Johnson’s
Cypher stent, measuring 2.25 mm. The stent is designed for
use in smaller blood vessels, which are more likely to become
reclogged. More information is available from the Associated
Press/Forbes.
Royal
Philips Electronics recently said it is recalling about 5,400
HeartStart FR2 automated external defibrillators because of
a problem with the memory chip, which may cause the device
to malfunction. The company has had no reports of injuries
and detected the malfunction in internal tests. More coverage
is available from the Associated
Press.
