Sequestration, workforce issues and step therapy reform are just some of the areas in which the ACR’s activities, via the Government Affairs Committee and member action, have made a positive difference for rheumatology practitioners.
From ARP Representatives to the ACR Government Affairs Committee |
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.
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.