An important message from the ASA resident component

[UTSouthwestern]

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2005

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed changes to the Medicare Fee Schedule for 2006, released August 1, 2005, do not include a correction of the discriminatory policy of paying teaching anesthesiologist only 50% of the fee for each of two concurrent resident cases. ASA has had a 2-year quest for parity with our teaching surgical colleagues. The ASA?s goal is to achieve 100% of the Medicare fee for each of two overlapping procedures involving resident physicians. CMS is asking for comments on this issue through September 30, 2005.

What can you do as a resident to help affect the above issue?
On the ASA website (www.asahq.org) there is a link under the ?What?s New? heading. You will need your user ID (your first initial and your last name) and your password. If you have forgotten your password, the ASA will email it to you in a short amount of time.

This link further lists 3 important links: a letter from the ASA Officers regarding this issue, a link to a ?Docket Management Comment Form? to register a comment to CMS on the web (it is very easy to navigate), and a link connecting quickly to a listing of Senators and Members of Congress by state in order to send an email or fax (addresses are also included if you would like to snailmail a letter). I have listed the websites below as well.

CMS:http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scrip...EC_DOCUMENT_ID=70&SUBTYP=NEXT&CID=&AGENCY=CMS
Legislature: http://www.capwiz.com/asa/home/


The ASA is asking that residents weigh in about our training programs, the future of anesthesiology, and how we see our programs and training being squeezed by the current Medicare teaching rule. Anesthesiologists need to be on par with our teaching surgical colleagues.


THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY AS RESIDENTS TO BE ACTIVE AND TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! CMS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM US BECAUSE WE ARE THE FUTURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGY. I ENTERED A COMMEN! T TODAY THROUGH THE LINKS ON THE WEB TO CMS, MY SENATORS AND MY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. THE ENTIRE PROCESS TOOK 15-20 MINUTES. PLEASE TAKE THIS SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. FUTURE RESIDENT TRAINING AND ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS ARE AT RISK IF THE TEACHING RULE IS NOT CHANGED.
For more background on the CMS teaching rule, see this ASA Newsletter
article: http://www.asahq.org/Newsletters/2004/10_04/washReport10_04.html
which notes "The impact of this CMS change on the financial viability
of anesthesiology!
teaching programs has been significant ? representing
an estimated one-eighth the amount by which institutions must subsidize
academic anesthesiology departments in order to keep them afloat and to
permit faculty positions to remain competitive with practice opportunities
in the private marketplace. With these departments already struggling to
meet demand (there are 300 fewer ava!
ilable residency positions per year than
the estimated 1,600positions annually required to meet growth in demand
in the next several years), the CMS teaching rule penalty has become a
significant factor in departmental health."


Please contact me or any of the other ASA-RC Governing Council officers with questions. Please forward this information to the other residents in your program!

Your ASA-RC Secretary,

Jennifer R. Dollar, M.D.

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[toughlife]

This rule is not beneficial and can stagnate future research. Are there any other specialties affected by this rule?

I think all parties interested should email the powers that be at CMS not just residents. Many of us heading into training can suffer from poor quality training if the faculty we need to train us won't be there.

 

[bigdan]

Is there anything that non-physicians (read: medical students) can do? I'd be interested in lobbying for the greater good...


dc

 

[Disse]

THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY AS RESIDENTS TO BE ACTIVE AND TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! CMS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM US BECAUSE WE ARE THE FUTURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGY. I ENTERED A COMMEN! T TODAY THROUGH THE LINKS ON THE WEB TO CMS, MY SENATORS AND MY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. THE ENTIRE PROCESS TOOK 15-20 MINUTES. PLEASE TAKE THIS SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. FUTURE RESIDENT TRAINING AND ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS ARE AT RISK IF THE TEACHING RULE IS NOT CHANGED.

The above is true. The asa website through the links provided make it EXTREMELY easy to add your comments and participate in the political process.

For those of you who don't think your voice will make a difference--it will.

For those of you who think politics isn't worth participating in--it is.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, political activism is absolutely necessary to maintain, protect and support your medical specialty.

If we don't speak up...who will?

 

[ThinkFast007]

The above is true. The asa website through the links provided make it EXTREMELY easy to add your comments and participate in the political process.

For those of you who don't think your voice will make a difference--it will.

For those of you who think politics isn't worth participating in--it is.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, political activism is absolutely necessary to maintain, protect and support your medical specialty.

If we don't speak up...who will?

agreed!

MDs this is really important for us! unfortunately I'm only a MS4....if there's anything i can do too, please inform me!

 

[toughlife]

Go to this website and submit a comment about this issue to the CMS folks.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/commentdocket.cfm?AGENCY=CMS

then click on the "CMS-1502-P" link and the follow the instructions.

The ASA has posted some talking points on this issue which you can use in the body of your comment as you see fit.

Here are the talking points:

"I am writing you as a constituent to ask that you contact the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and urge a change in payment policy for teaching anesthesiologists.

Please support academic medicine in our state.

The current Medicare teaching anesthesiologist payment rule is unwise, unfair and unsustainable.

Quality medical care, patient safety and an increasingly elderly Medicare population demand that the United States have a stable and growing pool of physicians trained in anesthesiology.

The current policy is causing great harm to my program.

Right now, slots in anesthesiology residency programs are going unfilled because of ill-conceived Medicare policy that shortchanges teaching programs, withholding 50% of their funds for concurrent cases.

Anesthesiology teaching programs, caught in the snare of this trap, are suffering severe economic losses that cannot be absorbed elsewhere.

The CMS anesthesiology teaching rule must be changed to allow academic departments to cover their costs.

Academic research in anesthesiology is also drying up as department budgets are broken by this arbitrary Medicare payment reduction.

A surgeon may supervise residents in two overlapping operations and collect 100% of the fee for each case from Medicare. An internist may supervise residents in four overlapping outpatient visits and collect 100% of the fee for each when certain requirements are met. A teaching anesthesiologist will only collect 50% of the Medicare fee if he or she supervises residents in two overlapping cases.

This is not fair, and it is not reasonable.

Medicare must recognize the unique delivery of anesthesiology care and pay Medicare teaching anesthesiologists on par with their surgical colleagues.

The Medicare anesthesia conversion factor is less than 40% of prevailing commercial rates. Reducing that by 50% for teaching anesthesiologists results in revenue grossly inadequate to sustain the service, teaching and research missions of academic anesthesia training programs.

Please let me know as soon as possible your position on this critically important issue for our program"

 

[bigdan]

...I'm on it - thanks!

dc