The American Geriatrics Society - News - American Geriatrics Society Lauds Introduction of "RE-Aligning Care Act" -- Essential Healthcare Reform Legislation That Implements Recommendations from MedPAC and Institute of Medicine to Improve Quality and Lower Costs of Care for Medicare Beneficiaries With Multiple Chronic Health Conditions

For Immediate Release
May 8, 2009

For Further Information:
Erin Weller
(212) 308-1414
eweller@americangeriatrics.org

American Geriatrics Society Lauds Introduction of
"RE-Aligning Care Act" -- Essential Healthcare Reform Legislation
That Implements Recommendations from MedPAC
and Institute of Medicine
to Improve Quality and Lower Costs of Care
for Medicare Beneficiaries With Multiple Chronic Health Conditions

New York, NY - The American Geriatrics Society hails Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representative Gene Green (D-TX) for introducing the "RE-Aligning Care Act" (Reaching Elders with Assessment and Chronic Care Management and Coordination), essential healthcare reform legislation that will improve care for Medicare beneficiaries and lower Medicare costs.

Implementing recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the bill (S. 1004/ H.R. 2307) will fill a significant gap in traditional Medicare by covering comprehensive geriatric assessment and care coordination services for the most costly Medicare beneficiaries - those with multiple chronic health conditions.

The roughly 20% of Medicare beneficiaries who have five or more chronic conditions -- such as heart disease and diabetes -- now account for roughly 75% of Medicare spending. These patients see an average of 14 different physicians annually. Even if their individual healthcare providers deliver care efficiently, their overall care may be fragmented and inefficient unless these providers coordinate the care they receive and help them manage their health problems between visits, MedPAC reports.

Recent studies have shown that the patient-centered chronic care coordination models that the RE-Aligning Care Act would support both improve the health of high-cost beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions, and reduce or control costs.

"The "RE-Aligning Care Act" is an absolutely essential piece of healthcare reform legislation," says AGS President Cheryl Phillips, MD, Chief Medical Officer at On Lok, a nonprofit organization that provides all-inclusive healthcare and chronic care services for older adults in the San Francisco area. "In its groundbreaking 2008 report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Healthcare Workforce, the Institute of Medicine notes that Medicare fails to encourage healthcare providers to coordinate the care they provide for patients who see multiple providers because it does not reimburse providers for coordination services. Medicare beneficiaries who see multiple healthcare providers in differing settings may not get the care they need -- unless there is care coordination across settings, among providers, and between office visits."

The "RE-Aligning Care Act" would authorize traditional Medicare to pay physicians and other eligible healthcare providers to provide eligible beneficiaries with comprehensive geriatric assessments and chronic care management and coordination from provider to provider and setting to setting. Medicare beneficiaries who have two or more chronic conditions that the US Health and Human Services Secretary identifies as "likely to result in high expenditures" would be eligible for the services. Beneficiaries with dementia and one or more other chronic illnesses would also be eligible.

A geriatric assessment is a comprehensive review of an individual's physical and mental condition that serves as the basis for a comprehensive care plan for the individual. The assessment includes evaluations of cognitive and functional capacities, medication regimen and adherence, social and environmental needs, and caregiver needs and resources. Chronic care management and coordination services include, among other things, development and implementation of a care plan that coordinates services provided by all health care providers and agencies involved in the individual's care; medication monitoring and management; education and counseling services for the individual, including self-management services when appropriate; and management of transitions among healthcare professionals and settings of care.

Five AGS members sat on the Institute of Medicine "Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce For Older Americans" that drafted the 2008 report, Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. They are: David B. Reuben, MD, Archstone Foundation Chair and Professor, Director of the Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, and Chief of the Division of Geriatrics at David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles; Terry T. Fulmer, PhD, RN, Erline Perkins McGriff Professor and Dean at the College of Nursing, and Co-Director of The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University; Marie A. Bernard, MD, Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging; Tamara B. Harris, MD, Chief of the Geriatric Epidemiology Section Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry at the National Institute on Aging; and John W. Rowe, MD, Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who chaired the committee.

ABOUT THE FHA

In 1999, the American Geriatrics Society reached beyond its traditional role as a professional medical society and launched the AGS Foundation for Health in Aging (FHA). The FHA aims to build a bridge between geriatrics health care professionals and the public, and advocate on behalf of older adults and their special needs: wellness and preventive care, self-responsibility and independence, and connections to family and community. The FHA champions initiatives in public education, clinical research, and public policy that advance the principles and practice of geriatrics medicine; educate policy makers and the public on the health care needs and concerns of older adults; support aging research that reduces disability and frailty, and improves quality of life and health outcomes; encourage older adults to be effective advocates for their own health care; and help family members and caregivers take better care of their older loved ones and themselves.

ABOUT THE AGS

Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (www.americangeriatrics.org) is a nationwide, not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals dedicated to improving the health, independence, and quality of life of all older people. The Society supports this mission through activities in clinical practice, professional and public education, research, and public policy. With an active membership of over 6,500 health care professionals, the Society has become a pivotal force in shaping attitudes, policies, and practices in geriatric medicine.