Dermatologists Make Voices Heard in Washington, D.C.

September 18, 2009

This week was a turning point in the health system reform debate and AADA members were front and center in Washington, D.C.

Breaking News: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Announces Proposal
The long-awaited Senate Finance Committee health system reform bill was released in a preliminary format on Wednesday the 16th – just one day after more than 100 dermatologists visited Capitol Hill for the 2009 AADA Legislative Conference. The timing of the Hill visits could not have been better. Dermatology’s strong and principled messages were highlighted for more than 180 legislators and their staff at a critical time in the legislative process.

Your Academy’s rapid response team of physicians, along with staff, has been reviewing the Senate Finance Committee proposal and is currently evaluating strategy and next steps in light of this latest development in the health system reform debate.

As this situation develops, more information about your AADA’s position on the Senate Finance Committee Chairman’s proposal as well as other information will be made available on the AADA’s Health System Reform Resource Center on the Government & Advocacy page of the AADA Web site.

Dermatologists Delivered Key Messages to Lawmakers
While some progress has been made on the Academy’s priority issues with members in both chambers and from both parties, there remains room for significant improvement. It was critically important to have the presence of dermatologists as constituents and voters to shift discussion of the ramifications of policy changes from the theoretical to the practical level. Practicing physicians understand better than most the weaknesses in the current system and the real-life impact that changes in law might have.

With your AADA’s health system reform principles serving as the foundation of our messaging, teams of Academy members advocated for five key items that were largely in response to a review of provisions which were reportedly going to be issued in a Senate proposal:

1. Fix Medicare physician payment by adjusting, rebasing and/or reforming the sustainable growth rate (SGR). A stable payment system would help physicians make the necessary investments to maintain their practices in an evolving health care system, and the one-year temporary fix outlined in the Senate Finance Committee proposal is unacceptable.

2. Keep control of Medicare policy in the hands of Congress rather than transfer authority and responsibility to an entity like MedPAC. While the AMA Specialty Society Resource-Based/Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) process is imperfect, it is preferable to a policy-making body that removes the opportunity for input from stakeholders.

3. Make participation in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) voluntary and not punitive. Medicine needs a reasonable amount of time to develop relevant measures that will positively affect public health.

4. Since there currently aren’t ways to accurately risk adjust for the patient population of an individual physician, Medicare must not be called upon to identify and punish those physicians who utilize more resources than their peers. Doing so now would put high-risk patients and disadvantaged populations at risk of losing access to care.

5. Ensure medical liability relief is part of health system reform.

Academy President David M. Pariser, MD, FAAD, also recorded an audio news release about the AADA’s key principles on health system reform which was distributed to 500 radio stations across the country and the Westwood One Radio Network. Other members conducted radio interviews with stations back home to discuss their visit to Capitol Hill. The recording and excerpts of several radio interviews will soon be available for download from the AADA’s Health System Reform Resource Center.

In addition, dermatologists also discussed the rise in skin cancer incidence and expressed the need for regulations on indoor tanning facilities and increased public education/awareness efforts on the dangers of natural and artificial UV radiation. A new video about Camp Discovery also was debuted. The video highlights the seriousness of dermatologic conditions and how dermatologists are helping to improve the quality of life for their young patients. Watch the video on the Academy’s YouTube channel.

Standing By Our Principles and Making Our Voices Heard
As Congress continues to debate health system reform, your AADA remains a strong voice for the thousands of U.S. dermatologists and our patients. We stand ready to work as partners with lawmakers to advance policies that meet our principles and our shared goal of improving the nation’s health care system. We also will strongly oppose those elements of reform that we believe will have a detrimental impact on the delivery of quality dermatologic care. We welcome your thoughts and comments via email (govtaffairs@aad.org).