We applaud the efforts to promote the integration of electronic health records that have the promise of interoperability and should result in improved quality of care. Financial support by the government will speed the process, and the resulting reduction in redundancy may save money in the long term.
We encourage quality standards to raise the level of care provided, with the caveat that they must be developed by medical experts with experience in patient care. We support and promote comparative effectiveness research to determine practices that provide quality care efficiently. Additionally, we would like a seat at the table to assist in setting the agenda for care of chronic musculoskeletal disease.
The devil is in the details. President Barack Obama believes there is an approximate savings of $500 billion dollars to be found in the existing Medicare programs. Further proposed cuts to rheumatologists to increase reimbursement for primary care or to penalize physicians who perform more tests than the average are problematic and could reduce access to the sickest patients who need care. Stories from our colleagues who have been subjected to Medicare audits by Recovery Audit Contractors have been sobering, and we hope that a better mechanism to determine cost efficiency can be developed. We all agree that the growth in healthcare expenditures needs to be controlled but it must be acknowledged that the incoming influx of graying baby boomers into the Medicare system will make it improbable that savings will result without negatively affecting care.
Be Heard
To ensure we continue to have a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion, the ACR supports the efforts of RheumPAC, the ACR’s nonpartisan political action committee. Formed in 2007 to assist the ACR in its legislative advocacy efforts, RheumPAC supports candidates for U.S. Congress who have demonstrated a willingness to fight for the issues most important to the rheumatology community and provides the ACR with improved access to legislators. To learn more about RheumPAC, please visit www.rheumatology.org/rheumpac.
Insurance companies are spending millions of dollars on marketing for healthcare reform on a constant basis. Physicians and healthcare providers need to contact their members of Congress to make their voice heard. It is easy to contact Congress by sending an e-mail or picking up a telephone. Contact ACR staff or visit www.rheumatology.org/advocacy to have your voice heard. We may not agree on all of the details, but we all should have an opportunity for our voice to be heard. We need to be the voice for our patients, and we need to advocate for appropriate reimbursement for the care we provide.