News Archive

AANA Federal Government Affairs
HOTLINE
Number 2004-23, Week of Monday, September 27, 2004

In This Issue:

* AANA President Sends Letter to Capitol Hill Urging Passage of Patient Safety Legislation
* AANA Sends Physician Fee Schedule Comments to CMS
* Private Health Plans Will Cost $4B More for Medicare in 2005
* Amendments

>> AANA President Sends Letter to Capitol Hill Urging Passage of Patient Safety Legislation

AANA President Frank Maziarski, CRNA, MS, CLNC sent a letter to Capitol Hill and Members of Congress urging them to take action on the Patient Safety legislation that has passed both the House and the Senate. On July 22nd the Senate adopted the patient safety reporting legislation (S
720) that AANA has helped advocate this Congress, most recently as our lead item at AANA Midyear Assembly. The House had passed similar legislation (HR 663) in March 2003 with the support of AANA. In his letter, President Maziarski urged Congressional leadership to act upon the legislation before they adjourned for the year. President Maziarski cites the landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, "To Err is Human," and states, "We held then and hold now that more can be done to improve anesthesia patient safety."

President Maziarski, in conjunction with the AANA DC office, has also launch a Grassroots Action Alert. The action alert is for all CRNAs to get involved by calling their individual Senators and Representative. Tell them that they should support the patient safety legislation that has passed both the House and the Senate. Look for the Grassroots Action Alert on the AANA website.

>> AANA Sends Physician Fee Schedule Comments to CMS

AANA DC recently submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule for Calendar Year 2005. In the comments, AANA President Frank T. Maziarski CRNA MS CLNC stated that the sustainable growth rate (SGR), which is used to calculate healthcare provider reimbursement, does not accurately reflect the cost of healthcare. Earlier this year AANA joined with over 90 other healthcare associations to submit a letter to CMS with concerns for the SGR formula and the need for further reform. The comments also thanked CMS for implementing incentive pay for rural providers as a way to attract practitioners to rural areas where physicians may be scarce.

>> Private Health Plans Will Cost $4B more for Medicare in 2005

Medicare in 2005 will pay $4 billion more for the care of beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans administered by private health insurance than the program would pay under the fee-for-service (FFS) plan administered by the government, a former chief of staff to the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health told a forum sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform on Wednesday (September 24th). Since the payments are to plans and insurance companies as opposed to providres, the impact these payments have on CRNAs is unclear.

Brian Biles, currently a health policy analyst at George Washington University, said that Medicare will pay Medicare Advantage plans, most of which are HMOs, an average of almost 12% more than the program would pay under the fee-for-service plan, or about $829 per beneficiary. "If you're paying 108% on average, you're not saving money." In addition, Biles said that although Medicare Advantage plans in rural areas in 2005 will receive the largest increases in payments per Medicare beneficiary, about $1,300 more per beneficiary than the fee-for-service plan, only 2% of rural beneficiaries are enrolled in such plans, and they account for only 3% of Medicare Advantage enrollees. Medicare Advantage plans in urban areas will receive about $1,050 more per Medicare beneficiary than the fee-for-service plan; urban beneficiaries account for more than 25% of Medicare Advantage enrollees.

Check out Alliance for Heath Reform, http://www.allhealth.org/

>> Amendments

* Both the House and Senate are in session this week, with the House working on (HR 4231) the Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse Recruitment and Retention Act of 2004. This VA measure does not affect CRNAs; it permits the agency to hire associates' degree RNs. Meanwhile, the Senate will be debating (S 2845) the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. Both the House and Senate are scrambling to finish work by October 8th so legislators can go home and campaign for the November 2nd elections. However, Roll Call and other news outlets suggest it is likely Congress will not complete all its work, especially on budget matters, and is likely to return to Washington in a "lame duck" session, perhaps starting the second week of November.

* Patient Safety: Quality of Care Gaps Lead to 79k deaths annually. As many as 79,000 avoidable deaths occur annually as a result of "quality gaps" in the care provided by health plans nationwide, despite the fifth consecutive year of improvement, according to a National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) study released on Thursday (September 23rd). In the study, researchers examined health data for 2004 from about 69 million members of 563 health plans that publicly report performance information; about 75% of US residents are enrolled in plans that do not voluntarily provide such information (Wall Street Journal, 9/23). The results of the study are based on more than 40 categories of care that NCQA considers indicators of quality.

For more info see, http://www.ncqa.org/

* The first Presidential Debate will be Thursday (September 30th) in Miami! The first of three Presidential debates will be held this Thursday in Florida at the University of Miami. There will also be one Vice-Presidential debate.

* For up-to-date Congressional floor & committee schedule information, see http://thomas.loc.gov/

>> For More Information

The AANA Federal Government Affairs Hotline is published for the nurse anesthetist members of AANA each week Congress is in session by the AANA Office of Federal Government Affairs, Washington DC, 202-484-8400, info@aanadc.com, Frank Purcell, Director.

(posted 10-4-2004)