CMS leaders storm the Hill during AMA National Advocacy Conference

Monday, February 29, 2016 03:17 PM

Physician leaders from CMS, ADEMS, Denver, Mesa, Northern Colorado, and Aurora-Adams were on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 23-24, to advocate for physicians and patients. The delegation focused on educating the Colorado congressional delegation on four main issues:

• H.R. 4499, the Promoting Responsible Opioid Prescribing Act of 2016 and the Colorado’s coalition efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse;
• The proposed health insurance industry mergers;
• Enactment of meaningful electronic health record (EHR) reforms; and
• S. 2484/H.R. 4442, the Connect for Health Act telemedicine legislation.

The opioid abuse and misuse crisis has reached a national public policy level and both the administration and the federal legislative branch are now involved in developing solutions. From a political perspective, physicians could easily be put in the crosshairs of a solution so the Colorado NAC delegation discussed what Colorado physicians are already doing to address the issue. For example, the CMS board of directors voted to make the abuse and misuse crisis a priority in 2012 actively participates in the Colorado Consortium to Prevent Prescription Drug Abuse. And CMS is partnering with multiple organizations to provide educational modules for physicians.

The proposed mergers of Aetna-Humana and Anthem-CIGNA are controversial; both chambers of Congress held hearings last year. State insurance commissioners and the U.S. Department of Justice are largely the deciders on whether the mergers are approved, denied or modified and the insurance companies have invested tremendous resources into pushing the mergers through. CMS is taking these mergers and their potential impact on physicians and patients very seriously and discussed our concerns.

The Hill visits were part of the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference, which brought together over 30 state medical associations to hear the latest on national health policy and the politics of the 2016 election cycle. This was the first trip in well over a decade that physicians did not have to lobby for a fix to the sustainable growth rate (SGR).