Legislative Wins Show Power of Grassroots Letters

The SVS submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in September on two important Proposed Rules affecting vascular surgeons: the 2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS).

After nearly six months of preliminary work, the APM Task Force now is focusing on developing a vascular-specific Advanced Alternative Payment Model.

Spending an entire day or so learning about the history of the Medicare and Medicaid programs? Fascinating, said Dr. Matthew Sideman, chair of the SVS Coding and Reimbursement Committee.

Before departing for the July 4 recess, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1215, “Protecting Access to Care Act,” 218-210, a bill that SVS supports.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act to control Medicare spending, threatens the ability of Congress to ensure access to needed health care, say SVS advocacy staff and members.

The Society for Vascular Surgery has learned that Medicare will begin paying for supervised exercise therapy. Here is the CMS announcement:

The SVS has begun work on creating an Alternative Payment Model for SVS members to use for reimbursement under the new Quality Payment Program. A task force has been named and an operational plan drawn up, under the supervision of the SVS Executive Committee.   

The SVS Government Relations office on Capitol Hill, helps members and their patients through not only its legislative and regulatory work but also oversight of the SVS Political Action Committee.

Successes include:

Legislative

The Honorable Thomas Price, MD
Secretary
Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201