AMA Outlines Initiatives to White House to Help Slow Increases In Health Spending

AMA Outlines Initiatives to White House to Help Slow Increases In Health
Spending

Contributes toEffort to Bend Spending Curve to Help Move Health Reform Forward

WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following statement was
released today by Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D., President, American Medical
Association:

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081209/AMALOGO )

"The American Medical Association (AMA) joined with five other organizations
in the health sector today to outline initiatives to help achieve President
Obama's goal of decreasing the health-care cost growth rate by 1.5 percent,
saving $2 trillion or more over the next 10 years.

"The AMA is committed to action to help achieve greater value from our
nation's health-care spending. We want to help bend the spending curve and
move forward on health reform. Our proposals focus on making sure people get
the right care at the right time, addressing appropriateness of care,
overutilization of some services and avoidable hospital readmissions.

"The AMA-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI),
with the efforts of more than 100 state and national medical specialty
societies, continues to develop measures to improve health-care quality and
value.

"Efforts to reduce unnecessary utilization include the following PCPI-selected
topics for development of overuse measures this year: surgical and
non-surgical management of back pain, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
for chronic stable coronary artery disease, induction of labor/Caesarean
section, antibiotics for sinusitis and various types of diagnostic imaging.

"Other specific efforts include a set of measures to improve care transitions
from hospitals to other settings to avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions
and a multi-pronged effort to reconcile multiple prescriptions for individual
patients being treated by different physicians. This program of medication
reconciliation is designed to avoid potential drug interactions and eliminate
inappropriate or unnecessary prescriptions.

"Defensive medicine continues to be a major factor in rising costs. We need
medical liability reforms that help physicians provide the best care without
needing to order additional services to guard against possible lawsuits.

"All Americans can help in the effort to keep health-care costs down. The
combination of large-scale national initiatives and efforts by individuals to
engage in prevention and wellness efforts is key to reducing spiraling health
costs, preventing chronic disease and keeping America healthy."

Editor's Note: Full letter to the White House available here:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/31/stakeholders-to-obama.pdf

SOURCE American Medical Association

Brenda L. Craine, Director AMA Media Relations, +1-202-789-7447,
brenda.craine@ama-assn.org, AMA news on Twitter at:
https://twitter.com/AmerMedicalAssn