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On the morning of February 9, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The law included legislative priorities that were championed by the ACS and for which staff of the DC office and engaged Fellows of the College have advocated, in some cases, for a number of years.
ACS worked particularly hard in the week leading up to the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 with the goal of ensuring that certain items were included, and certain other items were excluded, in the Continuing Resolution (CR) under consideration by Congress to continue funding the government. The original version of the CR considered and debated by the House of Representatives early in the week included both positive and negative items. The ACS was successful in its efforts to get the Senate to consider a much-improved version of the CR – eliminating a major impediment in the House version. Ultimately, it was the Senate version that was signed into law by President Trump.
The provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 include:
• Flexibility for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) related to how much weight will be ascribed to the Cost component in an individual physician’s MIPS score as well as flexibility in setting the level at which physicians will either receive a positive or negative payment update. Without this flexibility, there was significant concern that Fellows would have significantly greater challenges in avoiding a cut under the MIPS. This language, and the effort to include it, was spearheaded and long championed by the ACS including the drafting of model legislation remedying the problem which was then provided to the leadership and staff of committees of jurisdiction.
• Easing meaningful use (MU) requirements by removing an outdated requirement directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue to make meaningful use standards increasingly stringent over time. The ACS has long advocated against increasingly stringent MU requirements that do not lead to improvements in patient care, and feels they are unnecessary and unfair to both patients and providers. Further, easing MU requirements has long been supported by ACS Fellows.
• An additional 4 years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), bringing the reauthorization period to a total of 10 years. ACS has consistently advocated and aggressively pursued reauthorization of CHIP every time reauthorization was necessary. During the most recent negotiations, following expiration of funding in September 2017, the ACS advocated for the longest possible period of reauthorization of funds.
• Full repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), included as part of the Affordable Care Act. Though members of the board were never appointed, the ACS has fought to eliminate this advisory board of unelected bureaucrats who had the power to cut physician payment since 2010.
• Additional funding to address both the opioid epidemic and to support the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ACS has long supported funding to fight cancer and has been proactive in its response to the national crisis of opioid abuse and misuse.
• Lastly, as mentioned above, the ACS strongly opposed language in the version of the bill passed by the House that would have allowed the use of the “Misvalued Codes” as part of the “pay-for” or offset for the legislation. The ACS anticipated that this language would have unfairly resulted in significant cuts to surgeons and we were pleased that this language was not included in the version ultimately agreed to and signed into law by President Trump. We sincerely hope that this ends the use of this flawed policy.
To have this many policy priorities enacted through one legislative package is a rare occurrence for any organization and accordingly is most gratifying. The emails and phone calls delivered by Fellows during the week of February 5, in combination with the work of staff here in Washington DC, no doubt played a significant role in securing these priorities. However, the work is not done and the ACS will continue to fight for improvements to issues facing surgeons and surgical patients.
We urge all Fellows to continue participating in these efforts.
Until next month ….
On the morning of February 9, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The law included legislative priorities that were championed by the ACS and for which staff of the DC office and engaged Fellows of the College have advocated, in some cases, for a number of years.
ACS worked particularly hard in the week leading up to the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 with the goal of ensuring that certain items were included, and certain other items were excluded, in the Continuing Resolution (CR) under consideration by Congress to continue funding the government. The original version of the CR considered and debated by the House of Representatives early in the week included both positive and negative items. The ACS was successful in its efforts to get the Senate to consider a much-improved version of the CR – eliminating a major impediment in the House version. Ultimately, it was the Senate version that was signed into law by President Trump.
The provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 include:
• Flexibility for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) related to how much weight will be ascribed to the Cost component in an individual physician’s MIPS score as well as flexibility in setting the level at which physicians will either receive a positive or negative payment update. Without this flexibility, there was significant concern that Fellows would have significantly greater challenges in avoiding a cut under the MIPS. This language, and the effort to include it, was spearheaded and long championed by the ACS including the drafting of model legislation remedying the problem which was then provided to the leadership and staff of committees of jurisdiction.
• Easing meaningful use (MU) requirements by removing an outdated requirement directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue to make meaningful use standards increasingly stringent over time. The ACS has long advocated against increasingly stringent MU requirements that do not lead to improvements in patient care, and feels they are unnecessary and unfair to both patients and providers. Further, easing MU requirements has long been supported by ACS Fellows.
• An additional 4 years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), bringing the reauthorization period to a total of 10 years. ACS has consistently advocated and aggressively pursued reauthorization of CHIP every time reauthorization was necessary. During the most recent negotiations, following expiration of funding in September 2017, the ACS advocated for the longest possible period of reauthorization of funds.
• Full repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), included as part of the Affordable Care Act. Though members of the board were never appointed, the ACS has fought to eliminate this advisory board of unelected bureaucrats who had the power to cut physician payment since 2010.
• Additional funding to address both the opioid epidemic and to support the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ACS has long supported funding to fight cancer and has been proactive in its response to the national crisis of opioid abuse and misuse.
• Lastly, as mentioned above, the ACS strongly opposed language in the version of the bill passed by the House that would have allowed the use of the “Misvalued Codes” as part of the “pay-for” or offset for the legislation. The ACS anticipated that this language would have unfairly resulted in significant cuts to surgeons and we were pleased that this language was not included in the version ultimately agreed to and signed into law by President Trump. We sincerely hope that this ends the use of this flawed policy.
To have this many policy priorities enacted through one legislative package is a rare occurrence for any organization and accordingly is most gratifying. The emails and phone calls delivered by Fellows during the week of February 5, in combination with the work of staff here in Washington DC, no doubt played a significant role in securing these priorities. However, the work is not done and the ACS will continue to fight for improvements to issues facing surgeons and surgical patients.
We urge all Fellows to continue participating in these efforts.
Until next month ….
On the morning of February 9, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The law included legislative priorities that were championed by the ACS and for which staff of the DC office and engaged Fellows of the College have advocated, in some cases, for a number of years.
ACS worked particularly hard in the week leading up to the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 with the goal of ensuring that certain items were included, and certain other items were excluded, in the Continuing Resolution (CR) under consideration by Congress to continue funding the government. The original version of the CR considered and debated by the House of Representatives early in the week included both positive and negative items. The ACS was successful in its efforts to get the Senate to consider a much-improved version of the CR – eliminating a major impediment in the House version. Ultimately, it was the Senate version that was signed into law by President Trump.
The provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 include:
• Flexibility for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) related to how much weight will be ascribed to the Cost component in an individual physician’s MIPS score as well as flexibility in setting the level at which physicians will either receive a positive or negative payment update. Without this flexibility, there was significant concern that Fellows would have significantly greater challenges in avoiding a cut under the MIPS. This language, and the effort to include it, was spearheaded and long championed by the ACS including the drafting of model legislation remedying the problem which was then provided to the leadership and staff of committees of jurisdiction.
• Easing meaningful use (MU) requirements by removing an outdated requirement directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to continue to make meaningful use standards increasingly stringent over time. The ACS has long advocated against increasingly stringent MU requirements that do not lead to improvements in patient care, and feels they are unnecessary and unfair to both patients and providers. Further, easing MU requirements has long been supported by ACS Fellows.
• An additional 4 years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), bringing the reauthorization period to a total of 10 years. ACS has consistently advocated and aggressively pursued reauthorization of CHIP every time reauthorization was necessary. During the most recent negotiations, following expiration of funding in September 2017, the ACS advocated for the longest possible period of reauthorization of funds.
• Full repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), included as part of the Affordable Care Act. Though members of the board were never appointed, the ACS has fought to eliminate this advisory board of unelected bureaucrats who had the power to cut physician payment since 2010.
• Additional funding to address both the opioid epidemic and to support the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ACS has long supported funding to fight cancer and has been proactive in its response to the national crisis of opioid abuse and misuse.
• Lastly, as mentioned above, the ACS strongly opposed language in the version of the bill passed by the House that would have allowed the use of the “Misvalued Codes” as part of the “pay-for” or offset for the legislation. The ACS anticipated that this language would have unfairly resulted in significant cuts to surgeons and we were pleased that this language was not included in the version ultimately agreed to and signed into law by President Trump. We sincerely hope that this ends the use of this flawed policy.
To have this many policy priorities enacted through one legislative package is a rare occurrence for any organization and accordingly is most gratifying. The emails and phone calls delivered by Fellows during the week of February 5, in combination with the work of staff here in Washington DC, no doubt played a significant role in securing these priorities. However, the work is not done and the ACS will continue to fight for improvements to issues facing surgeons and surgical patients.
We urge all Fellows to continue participating in these efforts.
Until next month ….
