HANYS News

Crowley Leads Bipartisan House Effort to Offset Doc Fix with Unused War Funding

2012-02-01T14:00:00-05:00

Representative Joseph Crowley (D-Queens/Bronx) is taking the lead in an effort to pay for a permanent Medicare “doc fix” using unspent war funding. Representatives Crowley and Dan Benishek, M.D. (R-MI) are jointly circulating a letter in the U.S. House of Representatives urging the congressional conference committee working to address the looming Medicare fee cut, to use unspent war funding to offset the $316 billion cost of the fix. The unspent war funding is referred to as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund.

HANYS is grateful to Representatives Crowley and Benishek for their bipartisan leadership in urging their House colleagues to support a permanent Medicare physician fee schedule fix that does no harm to hospitals and health systems. HANYS is urging all members of the New York State Congressional Delegation to sign the Crowley-Benishek letter.

A bipartisan, bicameral conference committee is working to alleviate the 27% Medicare physician cut scheduled to take effect March 1. The committee holds its second meeting today. HANYS is urging the conferees, including its two New York members, Representatives Nan Hayworth, M.D. (R-Bedford Hills) and Tom Reed (R-Corning), to reject cuts to hospitals and health systems to fund any portion of the cost of a Medicare doc fix.

HANYS and its members are reminding members of Congress that hospitals are vulnerable as long as provider cuts are on the table in lieu of OCO funds, or any alternative funding, to pay for the entire cost of the doc fix. Most vulnerable are Medicare payments to hospital outpatient departments for evaluation and management (E&M) clinic services. These payments make possible patient access to physician services in communities, rural and urban alike, where access to physician services may otherwise not exist.

Last week, using HANYS' impact analysis and examples from numerous HANYS' members, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) took a firm stand against this proposed $1 billion outpatient E&M clinic services cut to New York hospitals. The provision was included in a House-passed bill last December. Numerous press articles resulted from the Senator's media conference call at which he explained the devastating nature of the cut. HANYS supports full and fair reimbursement to physicians, but rejects any efforts to reduce payments to hospitals and health systems to pay for the doc fix. Contact: Susan Van Meter

Senator Schumer Leads Charge Urging Conferees to Reject Hospital Cuts to Fund Doc Fix

2012-01-26T14:00:00-05:00

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) took his fight public to protect New York hospitals and the patients they serve from being targeted for cuts to cover the cost of a Medicare physician fee schedule fix.

Senator Schumer issued press releases and spoke to reporters to urge the special congressional conference committee working to negotiate a Medicare “doc fix,” to reject cuts to hospitals to cover its cost. The Senator hosted a call with reporters from around New York State, emphasizing the damage to patient access to physician services that would result if the Medicare reimbursement for hospital outpatient department (HOPD) evaluation and management (E&M) clinic services were slashed.

The conference committee is considering the HOPD E&M cuts contained in the doc fix bill passed last December by the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 3630), which would result in almost $1 billion in cuts to New York hospitals, devastating patient access to physician services throughout the state.

Senator Schumer's press releases for the upstate, Long Island, and New York City regions are available online.

HANYS urges members to review HANYS' overview with message points and impact analysis and call their members of Congress, telling them to reject cuts to hospitals to pay for the doc fix.

Senator Schumer used HANYS' impact analysis and examples from HANYS' members to illuminate how the HOPD cut would undermine patient access to care and the goal of integrated delivery systems.

HANYS is actively engaging the New York State Congressional Delegation members on the congressional conference committee, Representatives Nan Hayworth (R-Bedford Hills) and Tom Reed (R-Corning), and is urging all Delegation members to reject the HOPD E&M cut and any other hospital and health system cuts. Contact: Susan Van Meter

Report Shows Spending $4.4 Million Below Medicaid Global Cap

2012-01-26T14:00:00-05:00

New York State's Medicaid Global Spending Cap November 2011 Report shows spending at $4.4 million (less than 0.1%) below expenditure projections for April through November 2011. The report, which includes sector-specific spending trends and explanations for variation in each provider sector, is posted on the DOH Web site, along with monthly provider sector spending projections that include claims projections and the impact of Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) proposals, and a report on regional spending trends.

DOH continues to track and report Medicaid spending, including retroactive rate changes, on a monthly basis and has authority to implement a Medicaid Savings Allocation Plan to reduce spending if expenditures are projected to exceed the cap. Contact: Nicholas Henley

HANYS' Survey Shows Persisting Physician Shortage

2012-01-26T14:00:00-05:00

HANYS' new report, 2011: The Doctor Can't See You Now, confirms that New York's physician shortage is not diminishing and is likely to worsen. The report provides the results of HANYS' 2011 Physician Advocacy Survey.

Access to care in communities across New York State is threatened by growing physician shortages. This survey found a dramatic increase in the number of physicians that departed or retired in 2010, and continued difficulty in recruiting replacements. Further, the average age of physicians practicing in New York State is 52, and 16% are over the age of 65, meaning the pace of retirements will accelerate.

Findings include:

The pace of physician departures and retirements in New York State is accelerating. Nearly 2,300 physicians retired or left the medical staffs of responding hospitals in 2010, compared to 1,600 in 2009.
Sixty-six percent of responding hospitals indicated there were times when the physician shortage left their emergency department without converge for certain specialties; requiring the transfer of patients to other hospitals for treatment.
Thirty-four percent of responding hospitals reported that they had to reduce and/or eliminate services in 2009-2010 due to physician shortages.
Responding hospitals reported a need for 763 new physicians.

The report, developed in collaboration with Iroquois Healthcare Alliance, Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association, Rochester Regional Healthcare Association, and Western New York Healthcare Association, corroborates studies by the State University of New York Center for Health Workforce Studies and American Association of Medical Colleges. A total of 109 member hospitals responded to this survey outside of New York City, a 71% response rate. Contact: Sherry Chorost

NSHC Campaign Distills Complexity of Health Care Reform in Simple Format

2012-01-26T14:00:00-05:00

With the federal health care reform law due to celebrate its second anniversary this March, opinion polls and research centers continue to report that many Americans still do not understand the law. That is why Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council (NSHC) launched a public information campaign, The ABCs of Health Care Reform and You. Web-based and social media-driven, the campaign imparts basic information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reform as it relates to a variety of population segments—uninsured, young adults, seniors/disabled, chronic disease sufferers, children, adults under 65, businesses and owners.

“It is important to us to help not only our hospital members, but the general public gain a relatable understanding of the law as it affects them now and in the near future,” said Wendy Darwell, chief operating officer for NSHC. “Health care is very much on the minds of everyone. A better understanding of the ACA leads to more informed health care decisions.”

Visitors to the site are encouraged to spread the helpful information by checking the NSHC tweets (@hospitalcouncil) and then re-tweeting the information. The Hospital Council's Facebook page also carries information about the campaign. Contact: Janine Logan

HANYS Advocates Against Hospital Cuts as House Returns

2012-01-20T14:00:00-05:00

With the U.S. House of Representatives back in session, HANYS is advocating against Medicare and Medicaid cuts to hospitals and health systems as a bi-partisan, bi-cameral “conference committee” works to pay for a reprieve from the Medicare physician fee schedule cut. The 27% physician fee cut will take place March 1 unless legislation is passed to avert it. HANYS supports full and fair Medicare reimbursement to physicians, but believes cutting hospitals and health systems to pay for such a fix must be soundly rejected.

HANYS appreciates the advocacy of HANYS' board members over the congressional recess in urging the two New York Delegation members of the conference committee, Representatives Nan Hayworth, M.D. (R-New Bedford) and Tom Reed (R-Corning) to reject cuts to hospitals. This week in Washington, HANYS met with a number of Delegation members to highlight the disproportionately steep reductions that would face New York should the cuts under consideration be put into effect.

There is not yet agreement among conferees as to the duration of a “doc fix” or the other “extender” provisions, including unemployment insurance benefits and the Social Security payroll tax holiday. The current, two-month “doc fix” did not reduce hospital reimbursement. However, a bill passed by the House (H.R. 3630), but rejected by the Senate, put forward cuts to hospitals that the conference committee is considering. H.R. 3630 would have cut about $1 billion in Medicare payments to New York hospitals, mostly by reducing reimbursement for physician evaluation and management services provided in hospital outpatient departments.

The House-passed bill also included reductions in Medicare support to hospitals to help cover the cost when Medicare beneficiaries cannot pay their required deductibles or copayments, and a $4 billion cut nationwide to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments. The conferees may also consider imposition of a new Medicare inpatient hospital coding offset.

New York hospitals and health systems are already targeted for $15 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts under the Affordable Care Act over the next ten years. The recent failure of the deficit reduction “Super Committee” triggers another $2.4 billion in Medicare cuts to New York hospitals and health systems beginning January 2, 2013 through sequestration.

HANYS developed impact and other advocacy materials for members on the cuts under consideration, and encourages members to press their members of Congress to protect hospitals and health systems, and patient access to care. Contact: Susan Van Meter