The Budget Control Act of 2011 cut Medicare physician payments by 2% across the board. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in 2020, suspended this sequester (i.e., a cut in government spending) between May 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law in December…
The new Twitter account enables quick communication between ACR advocacy staff and ACR/ARP members about the policies, regulations and legislation that affect rheumatology patients and providers and how members can get involved.
At a virtual event with the chair of the Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health, RheumPAC donors were able to share concerns and recommendations about drug pricing policies and how they affect providers and patients.
The ACR is advocating against policies that threaten patient access and disrupt practice workflow, including non-medical switching, tapering patients off biologics, specialty pharmacy acquisition mandates and site-of-service restrictions.
Bright spots from this legislative session include utilization management reform, copay accumulator bans and pharmacy benefit manager reform.
The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) has been extended, effective April 21. The Biden administration has indicated it will likely extend the PHE through the end of the year.
The ACR has sent a letter to Cigna expressing opposition to the initiative, which jeopardizes patients’ health, interferes with medical decision making, undermines the doctor-patient relationship and may disproportionately affect patients of lower socioeconomic status.
As a member of the ACR Government Affairs Committee, Mohammad Kamran, MD, has embraced virtual advocacy as a way to make a difference for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
ACR/ARP members share why they support the ACR’s nonpartisan political action committee and see it as an investment in the future of rheumatology.
With the approval of its Board of Directors, the ACR sent a letter to President Biden and newly minted Secretary of Health & Human Services Xavier Becerra, strongly supporting Janet Woodcock, MD, to be nominated as the FDA’s permanent commissioner. The ACR also congratulated Secretary Becerra upon his confirmation.