Twenty Surgical Groups Say Senate Health Legislation Will Threaten Patient Access and Harm Quality

Twenty Surgical Groups Say Senate Health Legislation Will Threaten Patient
Access and Harm Quality

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty surgical organizations, led by the
American College of Surgeons, sent a letter to the U.S. Senate today stating
they are prepared to oppose the Senate's health care reform bill because it
will threaten patient access and harm quality. Surgeons state that as the
legislation currently stands, it fails to address some of the fundamental
problems that plague the health care system.

"We strongly support health care reform that will expand access to quality
surgical and medical care to as many Americans as possible, but we cannot
support legislation that puts at risk both quality of care and patient
access," said A. Brent Eastman, MD, FACS, chair of the American College of
Surgeons' (ACS) Board of Regents and chief medical officer, Scripps Health.
"Our system is badly in need of reform but if the legislation does not address
these concerns, it will do little to fix its underlying problems and may make
it worse."

The surgical groups said they plan to oppose the Senate health care reform
bill if a number of provisions that were included in the Senate Finance bill
are retained. In addition to failing to permanently fix Medicare's broken
physician payment system and to include any meaningful proven medical
liability reforms, the surgical community opposes a number of the bill's
provisions including:

-- The legislation establishes a Medicare Commission that would shift the
responsibility for making difficult Medicare payment and coverage
decisions to an unelected Executive branch agency without appropriate
checks and balances.
-- The legislation includes mandatory participation in the seriously
flawed
Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) - a program through
which
CMS is still attempting to address systemic problems dating back to
2007.

-- The legislation attempts to improve patient access to certain
physician
services through reimbursement changes, but funds these changes
through
payment cuts to all other physicians - thereby exacerbating workforce
shortages, including general surgeons.

"The result of these serious deficiencies will make it more difficult for the
American people to receive the surgical care they will need in the future. We
will work with the Senate to improve the legislation, but if these
shortcomings remain in the final Senate bill, we will have no choice but to
urge Senators to vote no," Dr. Eastman added.

The American College of Surgeons met with policymakers over the past year to
educate them about programs that would improve quality, reduce costs and
increase patient access. One such program, the ACS National Surgical Quality
Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), is helping to prevent thousands of surgical
complications each year. Each hospital in the program, on average, is seeing
250 to 500 fewer complications and thus an annual reduction of $3 million in
costs. Nine of the top 10 private hospitals in the nation, along with more
than 240 additional hospitals, use ACS NSQIP. The ACS believes that these
types of quality programs, if supported by Congress, could save the health
care system a minimum of tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.

"There are ways to improve quality, cut costs and increase patient access -
but the Senate isn't hearing those of us who are closest to the patient and
work in the system every day," Dr. Eastman said.

The surgical groups that signed the letter include:

American College of Surgeons
American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics
American Society of Anesthesiologists
American Society of Breast Surgeons
American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Urological Association
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Society for Vascular Surgery
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons
Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization
of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical
practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College is
dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements
have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and
have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The
College has more than 74,000 members and is the largest organization of
surgeons in the world. For more information, visit www.facs.org.

SOURCE American College of Surgeons

Barbara Hemberger, +1-952-346-6232, or Sally Garneski, +1-312-202-5409, both
of American College of Surgeons