Federal Watch
March 22nd, 2012
AGS is tracking developments of interest to geriatrics health professionals in order to provide weekly updates for our readers via our List Serv, americangeriatrics.org, our Facebook page, and our Twitter feed. Today marks the two year anniversary of the 2010 health care reform law, which includes important provisions that are helping millions of older Americans and will continue to improve older adult healthcare. We also inform you of a new CMS initiative to strengthen the primary care workforce; as well as Congressman Paul Ryan’s newly released Medicare spending blueprint, a much debated topic on Capitol Hill. We additionally remind you of upcoming National Provider Calls and grant deadlines, and our recent advocacy activities -- including how you can take action by contacting your legislators, and urging them to fully address and put an end to the flawed SGR formula.
Health Reform’s Two Year Anniversary – Where are we Now?
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the 2010 health care reform law. Find out more about what’s already in place and what’s still to come. Recently, a number of news outlets have reported on the implementation of the law thus far, benefits to consumers, and what to expect in the coming years. For more information, click here.
CMS Announces New Initiative to Strengthen Primary Care Workforce
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a call for applications for a new Affordable Care Act initiative designed to strengthen primary care in the US. Under the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration, CMS will provide hospitals working with nursing schools to train advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) with payments of up to $200 million over four years to cover the costs of APRNs’ clinical training. APRNs—whether they are nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, or nurse midwives—play a pivotal role in primary care. This new initiative will provide funds to eligible hospitals to increase the availability of clinical training settings that will bolster the skills and supply of APRNs. Payments to the participating hospitals will be linked directly to the number of additional APRNs that the hospitals and their partnering entities are able to train as a result of their participation in the demonstration. CMS will select up to five eligible hospitals to participate in the demonstration. For more information including how to apply, visit the Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration website.
New Ryan Budget Would Transform Medicare
Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), chairman of the House Budget Committee released a spending blueprint that would drastically restructure Medicare. The GOP document projects an estimated $205 billion in Medicare savings over the President’s proposed budget over ten years. The plan would gradually raise the eligibility age to 67 by 2034 and cap Medicare spending at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) plus 0.5 percent. Ryan’s new budget would additionally provide a set amount of money for future Medicare beneficiaries – those currently under the age of 55 - to purchase either a private health plan or the traditional government-administered program through a newly created Medicare exchange that would begin in 2023. Democrats have criticized Ryan’s blueprint, and have vowed to launch a sweeping campaign against the Medicare proposal. To read more, please visit here.
Reminders
March 28; 2:30 - 4:00pm ET - Medicare Preventive Services National Provider Call: The Initial Preventive Physical Exam and the Annual Wellness Visit
CMS will hold a public call offering healthcare professionals the opportunity to obtain the necessary information about the Initial Preventive Physical Exam, also known as the “Welcome to Medicare” Preventive Visit and the Annual Wellness Visit (AWV). CMS experts will be on hand to discuss both the IPPE and AWV, when to perform them, who can perform each service, who is eligible, and how to code and bill for each service, followed by a question and answer session. Registration Information: Registration will close at 12pm on the day of the call or when available space has been filled. Presentation: The presentation for this call will be posted at least one day beforehand, here.
AHRQ’s New Comparative Effectiveness Research Grants Program (May 2 – due date for first of several applications)
We previously reported that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced a new grants program aimed at training researchers in comparative clinical effectiveness research. The program, entitled AHRQ Mentored Career Enhancement Award in Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR) for Mid-Career and Senior Investigators (K18), targets established mid-career and senior investigators who are interested in developing new skills in comparative effectiveness research methodology and applying these methods to patient-centered outcome research (PCOR). For additional information on the grants program, including application instructions and key dates, click here.
What AGS Did This Week
On Wednesday, March 21, AGS attended the American Medical Association - hosted meeting with CMS in Washington D.C. to discuss the Stage 2 proposed Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records rule, to which we plan on submitting comments to by the May 7th deadline.
In addition, we have lent our support to two sign-on letters this week. This includes a letter circulated by the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC) in regards to Title VII and Title VIII Funding. The letter urges House and Senate appropriators to support $520 million for Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Programs in FY 2013. In addition, as a member organization of the Friends of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Coalition, we signed on to a letter to Senate and House appropriators requesting $7 billion for HRSA in the FY 2013 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill.
How You Can Help
AGS encourages you to Take Action by visiting AGS’ Health in Aging Advocacy Center. Contact your members of Congress today, and urge them to call for both the repeal of the SGR and comprehensive Medicare payment and delivery reform. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Susie Sherman, Senior Coordinator of Public Affairs & Advocacy, ssherman@americangeriatrics.org.
Modified On: March 22nd, 2012
