"Docs4PatientCare.org is a politically neutral grassroots coalition of physicians. Use of any politically partisan terms does not reflect the position of Docs4PatientCare.org. We do encourage our speakers to express how they feel and we post articles based on their informative content only. Any politically partisan language used does not reflect the group as a whole. Specific party or political allegiances and opposition are not our intent. The goal of D4PC is only to advocate for effective and responsible health care reform."
The Washington Examiner has published a new op-ed by Jason D. Fodeman, M.D. calling on Congress to stop the implementation of the new billing codes (ICD-10). Codes the op-ed says will "do more harm than good." Why? Because the new set of codes, 140,000 in number (up from 18,000 under the current system, ICD-9), will force "health care providers to divert more and more scarce resources away from patient care to tend to bureaucratic whims."
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Based on the signals emanating from Washington, the Obama Administration may be shuttering the CLASS Act long-term care insurance program contained in ObamaCare. According to reports, the chief actuary for the program, Bob Yee, sent an email to colleagues saying that: "“HHS has decided to close down the CLASS Office effective tomorrow."
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New data published by Medicare last month concludes that the Veterans Administration focus on post-discharge planning has been ineffective in reducing hospital readmissions as compared to non-VA hospitals. The Washington Post reports that: "The Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health care system in the country, has long employed many of the approaches Medicare is pushing on all hospitals to reduce unnecessary readmissions. But new data show VA hospital patients are just as likely to end up back in a hospital bed as are patients at private hospitals."
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Pajamas Media has published Dr. Paul Hsieh's article entitled: "How ObamaCare Plays Games With Your Life." The article details the numerous ways that favored groups are receiving special treatment in the form of waivers and that special interest consultants and lobbyists are receiving a financial windfall providing expertise to doctors and hospitals struggling to understand how the law will impact the practice of medicine.
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A new analysis from the Office of the Actuary of CMS (and published in Health Affairs) breaks down how much more government will be spending on health care as a consequence of the PPACA. This analysis concludes that in 2014, when ObamaCare kicks in, the growth rate for government spending on health care will increase by 50% compared to the year before (increasing from a growth rate of 5.5% in 2013 to 8.3% in 2014).
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As Congress and the President debate how to address spending cuts as part of a deal to raise the debt limit, many proposals have been put forward to cut federal spending on health care. None of these proposals, John Goodman writes, are a "serious proposal to reduce health care spending over the next ten years on Capitol Hill. Not on the right. Not on the left. Not Republican. Not Democrat."
Goodman states that: "The Obama administration’s talk about 'value purchasing' is nothing more than empty rhetoric, backed by the threat of senseless price controls that the Medicare actuaries office says will put hospitals out of business and severely reduce access to care for the elderly and the disabled." He also explains that certain proposals on Capitol Hill call for "$300 billion in health care spending cuts in order to avert a planned cut in Medicare doctors’ fees" and "may also require another $200 billion in cuts." Goodman notes that "this is on top of about $550 billion in Medicare cuts already legislated as part of last year’s health reform bill." This, he says, should make hospitals nervous.
Goodman asks, "So how do we get out of this trap?" His answer: "Let the hospitals propose how they would like to be paid."
Read the full post here.
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Docs 4 Patient Care member, Dr. Milton R. Wolf, has written an important op-ed for The Washington Times about the record number of drug shortages in the United States.
Wolf writes: "The FDA, despite its intentions, drives up the costs of medicines and often dries up the supply chain altogether. America is currently facing a shortage of about 246 drugs - a record high. This doesn’t happen by accident. Consider the alarming conclusions reached, not by the supposedly evil pharmaceutical companies, but by physicians and pharmacists at last year’s Drug Shortages Summit."
And, "A joint report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Oncology, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices sounded the alarm: “Several drug shortages have been precipitated by actual or anticipated action by the FDA.” They note that the “cost and complexity” of the FDA’s “regulatory barriers” to providing new and even existing medicines is a “disincentive” to suppliers. Additionally, the “lengthy and unpredictable” approval process limits manufacturer’s ability to develop reliable production schedules." This has caused the drug approval process to increase from 7 months to 7 years!
One reason for this, as John Goodman explains, is that the FDA bureaucracy has a vested interest in inaction. The consequences and public scrutiny that comes to bear on the FDA for approving a drug (action) that eventually proves to be harmful, or has side effects, is high. Conversely, there is little public outrage caused when FDA inaction prevents a new drug from becoming available through bureaucratic delays (inaction), even if the denies a cure of treatment. Goodman writes that "both outcomes are bad for the public, but the consequences for the regulators are very different." Inaction has proven to be the safer course of action for the FDA.
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