Contents tagged with medicare
-
The brave new world of the SGR repeal
By Dale Ragle, MD
TAFP President, 2014-2015On April 16, 2015, President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which phases out Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate payment formula over the next 10 years. The so-called “doc fix” enjoyed bipartisan and bicameral support in Congress, a rare phenomenon these days, as well as support from most major medical organizations, including AAFP and the American Medical Association. In spite of broad support, the bill took more than a year of tweaking and survived innumerable negotiations between both political parties and the White House, a testament to the adage that “the devil is in the details.”
The SGR formula tied Medicare expenditures to the gross domestic product. Since demand and utilization of health care services do not rise and fall directly with the ebbs and flows of the general economy, the SGR often threatened to cut physician fees year after year. Perennially, Congress passed special legislation to delay the fee cuts, often only finding they have to repeat the action in the following year.
more -
Missed opportunities in the 84th Texas Legislature
By Tom Banning
TAFP CEO/EVPYogi Berra famously said I hate making predictions, especially about the future. It’s particularly painful when those predictions come true as was the case for many of the predictions TAFP made at the outset of the 84th Texas Legislature on how health care issues would fare this session.
Playing to their primary voters, the House and Senate focused attention almost solely on tax cuts, border security, transportation, when and where you can carry a gun, and a host of other mostly inconsequential partisan ideas.
more -
The clock is winding down on the Texas Legislature
The clock is winding down on the Texas Legislature
posted 5.27.15
With less than a week left in the 84th Texas Legislature, many bills TAFP has been tracking have passed the House and the Senate … more
-
Texas Family Physician - Vol. 66 No. 1, Winter 2015
Go to the TFP archive
View the virtual issue
President’s letter
Perspective
CONTENTS
Texas Family Physician of the Year 2014-15: Russell Thomas, Jr., DO, MPHThis year’s Physician … more
-
All hands on deck
By Dale Ragle, MD
TAFP President, 2014-2015Welcome colleagues to a new year, a new Congress, and a new Texas Legislature. On all fronts, health care is evolving. These changes present family physicians tremendous opportunities to shape our future health care system. It’s up to all of us as family physicians to advocate for our specialty in the halls where decisions are made that affect our patients and our practices.
In Washington, D.C., the 114th Congress is well under way and is busy on a number of health care issues. AAFP’s advocacy work is focused on fixing Medicare’s broken payment model, changing Meaningful Use requirements, delaying ICD-10, and reforming graduate medical education funding. Another area in which AAFP is concentrating efforts is in making payment for direct primary care services a qualified health benefit under IRS rules. This would enable patients to pay for direct primary care with pre-tax HSA and FLEX account dollars, a move that would aid the expansion of this emerging and promising model of practice.
more -
HHS: 85% of Medicare payments to be based on value by 2018
HHS: 85% of Medicare payments to be based on value by 2018
Announcement signals accelerated shift toward value-based payment reform
posted 2.4.15
The Department of Health and Human Services has … more
-
Texas Family Physician - Vol. 65 No. 4, Fall 2014
Go to the TFP archive
View the virtual issue
President’s letter
Perspective
CONTENTS
Embracing change in the ValleyA small group of independent primary care docs in and around … more
-
Primary care is the real “Medicare Advantage”
//
//
By Bruce Bagley, MDTransforMED CEO
If you are not familiar with Medicare Advantage plans and how they work, it is time to get up to speed and follow this important trend in health … more
-
Medicare compliance and preparation for RAC audits
//
//
Medicare compliance and preparation for RAC audits
By Bradley Reiner
CMS has taken the next steps in Medicare’s comprehensive efforts to identify improper Medicare payments and … more
-
Congress has until March 31 to pass Medicare SGR fix
Congress has until March 31 to pass Medicare SGR fix
By AAFP News Staff
As physicians rang in the new year, they had more reason than ever to hope for the repeal of the dysfunctional sustainable … more