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DJP Update 1-22-2010 Dramatic news from AMA!
Hallelujah! Private contracting & balance billing
in today's AMA President's blog
Here is an exciting development about the AMA policy
to privately contract without penalty and balance bill
as per long-standing AMA policy. As you know, I
lamented in the DJP Update 1-21-2010 that AMA was not
advocating this policy in the media and in the letter
to Senator Reid that was sent out yesterday. I also
could not find the letter on the AMA Website.
A specialty society legislative director found the
letter about SGR fix on AMA Website and sent me the
link:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/ama-aarp-moaa-house-call.shtml
Unfortunately, as was my concern, there is nothing
about private contracting without penalty!
HOWEVER, TODAY AMA PRESIDENT DR. JIM ROHACK WROTE
HIS COLUMN ENTITLED: "BLOG: ON THE ROAD WITH DR.
ROHACK" AND ALSO SENT OUT A TWEET WITH A LINK TO HIS
ARTICLE OF TODAY, 1-22-2010. The title of the article
is "How we should pay physicians for medical care".
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/road-doctor-rohack.shtml?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&UID=21ae8cdf-e382-40c9-87cf-32c8561d0531&plckPostId=Blog%3a21ae8cdf-e382-40c9-87cf-32c8561d0531Post%3a7186ac13-6afb-4718-8cbc-d35d4c94684e&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
or get to it by the tweet shorter URL:
http://bit.ly/89JmiD
Full tweet is:
AmerMedicalAssn
#AMABlog: AMA President J. James Rohack, MD, talks
about how physicians should be paid for medical care.
http://bit.ly/89JmiD
And Hallelujah, the article states in part,
------
It’s pretty clear to me. Those who
vote against fixing the SGR permanently want to ration
care by denying access. This may appear to be harsh but
it is the only realistic conclusion.
One way to deal with the increasing volume
of medical services is to make sure access to those
services is limited. Some say that the National Health
Service in the United Kingdom controls costs by having
only 30 percent of physicians who are non-primary care
specialists, practice in regional
hospitals.
------
But we have seen physicians take a different
approach by dropping out of Medicare and privately
contracting with their patients for professional
services. The penalty is that has to be done for two
years and effects all patients.
Before 1997, physicians had the ability to bill
Medicare patients the difference between their fee
needed to keep their office viable and what Medicare
paid for the services. As the cost for office upkeep
measured by the Medicare Economic Index has continued
to rise while Medicare payment has not kept pace
(currently 20 percent less in 2009 fees compared to
what should be paid), the financial problems are only
getting worse.
If Congress would lift that ban on private
contracting for the full fee for services and allow the
physician to provide services on an individual basis
and get paid to keep their office viable and not have
to drop out of the Medicare program, it would allow
accountability to occur at the point of contact.
-----------
End of excerpts.
Wow! Thank you, Dr. Jim Rohack! Now send
that blog article to everyone in Congress!! That public
communication with copies to Congress is exactly what
the AMA House of Delegates mandated. Let's do it! Let's
restore liberty to patients and physicians.
Last night I said in the DJP Update 1-21-2010:
------
"The ship of Congress is in chaos at this moment and
AMA needs to cut loose our towed AMA ship before it
hits the shoals with the current majority. Let it not
be said that AMA membership got so low in 2010 that AMA
ceased to exist as a membership organization. AMA needs
to exist and it needs the current leadership to stand
tall and stop giving the impression of genuflecting for
political expediency.
------
Today's article by AMA President Dr. Rohack gives
hope that the tow ropes have been cut! ONWARD!
And thanks to Dr. Jim Rohack!
This is a week to remember!
Stay well,
Donald
P.S. Stop by http://twitter.com/djpNEWS and sign up
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
Intrepid Resources® / The Medical Risk Manager Company
5000 West Esplanade Ave., #432
Metairie, Louisiana USA 70006
504-455-5895 office
504-455-9392 fax
DJP@intrepidresources.com
www.intrepidresources.com
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representing all of the State Medical Associations and
over 100 Specialty Societies plus some other friends.
You can share it with your members and it has the
potential to reach 800,000 physicians.
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