Large Physicians Group Calls for More Health Care Reforms; Condemns Budget Impasse in Washington

“ACP’s recommendations to make the health system more effective:

• ACP calls for a renewed commitment at both the national and state levels to effectively implement the coverage expansions and related policies under the ACA [the Affordable Care Act - a/k/a/ "Obamacare"], with particular attention to ensuring the poorest and most vulnerable patients have access to affordable coverage.
• ACP urges Congress and the administration to reach agreement on a plan to replace across-the-board sequestration cuts and future potential future disruptions in funding for critical health care and instead enact fiscally- and socially-responsible alternatives to reduce unnecessary health care spending.
• Congress must enact legislation to eliminate Medicare’s SGR formula and support the medical profession’s commitment to transition to new payment models.
• ACP calls for policies to recruit and retain primary care physicians.
• A reduction of firearms-related injuries and deaths must result by improving access to mental health services, supporting research on the causes and prevention of violence, and enacting reasonable controls over access to firearms that do not infringe on constitutionally protected rights.”

“ACP’s recommendations to reduce intrusions on the patient-physician relationship:

• Public and private policymakers and payers must ensure that any payment reforms have, as an explicit goal, allowing physicians to spend more appropriate clinical time with their patients.
• Payment and delivery reforms that hold physicians accountable for the outcomes of care (measurable performance on quality, cost, satisfaction and experience with care) should concurrently eliminate the layers of review and second-guessing of the clinical decisions made by physicians.
• CMS should harmonize (and reduce to the extent possible) the measures used in the different reporting programs, work toward overall composite outcomes measures rather than a laundry list of process measures.
• CMS should provide more clinically relevant ways to satisfy the requirement that physicians must transition to using ICD-10 codes for billing and reporting purposes.
• Congress and CMS should consider working with physicians to encourage participation in quality reporting programs by reducing administrative barriers, improving bonuses to incentivize ongoing quality improvements for all physicians, and broadening hardship exemptions. If necessary, Congress and CMS should consider delaying the penalties for not successfully participating in quality reporting programs, if it appears that the vast majority of physicians will be subject to penalties due to limitations in the programs themselves.
• The government, the medical profession, and standard-setting organizations should work with EHR vendors to improve the functional capabilities of their systems, to improve the ability of those systems to report on quality measures and to ensure that those systems improve rather than adding to workflow inefficiency.
• Medicare and private insurers should move toward standardizing claims administration requirements, pre-authorization, and other administrative simplification requirements even in advance of, and in addition to, the simplification rules included in the ACA.
• Congress should enact meaningful medical liability reforms including health courts, early disclosure errors, and caps on non-economic damages.
• State and federal authorities should avoid enactment of mandates that interfere with physician free speech and the patient-physician relationship.”