Legislative Call Agenda, Thursday April 30th 3:00 PM EST

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Legislative Committee Conference Call

3:00 pm EST, Thursday, April 30th
Call in number is 712-432-3900
Passcode is 471334
Moderator code is 406354.
Please press *6 on your phone to mute and *7 to unmute.
(Moderators/Speakers use #0 to mute all participant lines and #1 to unmute.)
To get previous issues of our Legislative agenda, please follow this link to our website. 

 

I. Senate Finance Committee Releases Press Release on Health Care Delivery Systems
 
On Wednesday, April 29th, the Senate Fianance Committee released a press release entitled, 'Transforming the Health Care Delivery System: Proposals to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Health Care Costs'.  The document describes policy options to improve and support delivery system and payment reform in today's health care.  For a link to the full press release, please click here.
 
II. Senate Confirms Sebelius for Health Secretary Post
 
On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Kathleen Sebelius as the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. While her immediate work will focus on the swine flu epidemic, Sebelius will also work closely with the White House and Congress on the promised health care overhaul, pledged earlier this year.  For more information on the confirmation, please click here.
 
III. Upcoming Senate Finance Committee Hearings
  • Increasing Access to Health Care Coverage
    Date Tuesday, May 5, Time TBA
    Place 215 Dirksen Bldg.

For more information on the hearing, please click here.

  • Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform
    Date Thursday, May 14, Time TBA
    Place 215 Dirksen Bldg.
IV. HDHP's and PCPCC Legislative Action
 
Per the discussion at the last Executive Committee meeting, it was decided that the PCPCC would pursue as part of the legislative platform a revision of the law concerning qualified High Deductible Health Plans. Currently, the law only allows payment for preventive screenings and limited medications that are used to prevent disease prior to satisfaction of the deductible. What this has meant is that patients must pay out-of-pocket for all primary care services and medications related to the care of chronic disease until the high deductible is met. This model does not align incentives for patients to engage in PCMH's. The change in legislation would not mandate that health plans or employers/government add payments related to these primary care services or drugs, but would allow them to do so. As these plans have become much more popular, physicians are realizing the difficulty in getting patients with these plans to actively participate in managing their chronic conditions, when out-of-pocket costs are a factor.
 
Terry A. McInnis MD, MPH, Medical Director- Health Policy and Advocacy, GlaxoSmithKline has crafted the attached draft, as she has dealt with this issue for awhile.

 

V. PCPCC Recommendations to Encourage Consumer Involvement in the PCMH Movement

We were asked by Congressional staff to recommend ways to encourage consumer involvement in the PCMH national movement.  Attached, please find nine Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) consumer principles developed by a broad coalition of more than 25 of the nation's leading consumer, labor and health care advocacy groups, lead by the National Partnership for Women and Families.  The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) surveyed its membership for ideas on ways to operationalize the PCMH concept for the consumer.  The principles and operational suggestions are attached.
VI. Senate HELP Committee Request
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) has requested ideas to implement and expand the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) in the following areas: (1) Workforce Supply Issue, (2) Consumer Barriers (financial and others), and (3) Data Collection.
VII.  Discussion on Future Strategy for Legislative and Regulatory Efforts
Discuss the strategy to pursue a preference for the 19+ billion of health IT money for primary care doctors transforming their practice into PCMH.  Numerous congressional staffers recommended that we discuss this issue with policy officials at HHS, once the stimulus bill was signed.
Strategy needed for next fiscal year appropriation process, i.e. meetings with appropriations committee staff. 
Discuss opportunities at Medicaid level, with the additional funding from stimulus package on transformation of PCMH.
VIII. Legislative Goals to Promote Primary Care
  • Broaden the Medicare Medical Home Demo so that it is national in scope.  Subsequently, it should become permanent feature of the Medicare program.
  • Increase funding for National Health Service Corps Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs
  • Expand primary care health professions programs in Sec. 747 of Title VII of the Public Health Service Act
  • Provide additional pathways for scholarships and loan forgiveness programs to create incentives for new physicians to choose careers in primary care
  • Increase Medicare payments for primary care services
  • Develop and include some language about engaging consumers/patients as part of the target for stimulus dollars and health reform
IX. Recent Hill Meetings
  • Monday, March 16th, 2:30 PM EST, John O'Brien, Congressional Fellow, Senator Robert Casey (Pennsylvania)
  • Wednesday, March 11th, 4:00 PM EST, Stephen Cha, House Energy & Commerce Committee
  • Thursday, March 4th, 10:00 AM EST, Dr. Ken Thorpe, Executive Director, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, 712-432-3900, Passcode: 471334#.
  • Thursday, February 26th, 1:00 PM EST, Anne Morris, Committee on Energy and Commerce, 2322 Rayburn Building
  • February 10th, 4:10 PM EST, Mona Shah, Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Staff, 503 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
  • February 6th, 2:00PM EST, Dr. Ken Thorpe, Executive Director, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, Dial-In Number: 712-432-3900, Passcode: 471334#.
  • February 5th, 4:45PM EST, Nicole Tapay, Office of Senator Ron Wyden, 223 Dirksen Building
  • February 5th, 4:00PM EST, Patricia DeLoache, Office of Senator Orrin Hatch, 104 Hart Senate Office Building
  • February 5th, 1:00PM EST, Sara Selgrade, Ph.D., ASHG/NHGRI Genetics and Public Policy Fellow, Office of Senator Tom Harkin, 731 Hart Senate Office Building 
  • February 3rd, 11:00AM EST, Amy Hall (Rep. Henry Waxman's staff) and Hasan Sarsour (Rep. Frank Pallone's staff), House Energy and Commerce Commitee staff, 2125 Rayburn Building 
     
Meetings needed
  • Committee on Ways & Means

X. Miscellaneous
Health Care Reform Plans being developed by Congressional Representatives.
The Healty Americans Act, sponsored by Senator Rob Wyden (D-Oregon) and Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) is the first bipartisan health reform proposal in more than a decade to gaurentee affordable, healthcare quality for all.  To view a draft of The Healthy Americans Act, please click here.
H.R. 5348: American Health Benefits Program Act of 2008, sponsored by Rep. James Langevin (D-RI) and co-sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shay (R-CT) amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to establish under a new title XXII (American Health Benefits Program) a program to provide comprehensive health insurance coverage to all Americans who are: (1) not covered under certain federal health insurance programs; and (2) not eligible for employer-provided insurance coverage.  To view the bill as it was introduced in the House, please click here.
 
Edwina Rogers, Executive Director
and
Relja Ugrinic, Director of Operations and External Affairs
Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative
The Homer Building
601 Thirteenth Street, NW, Suite 400 North
Washington, DC 20005
Edwina Direct:  (202) 417-2081
Edwina Cell: (202) 674-7800
Relja Direct:  (202) 724-3332
Relja Cell: (703) 585-9165
Fax: (202) 393-6148
erogers@pcpcc.net
rugrinic@pcpcc.net
www.pcpcc.net
AttachmentSize
HDHP PCPCC position draft.doc57 KB
Suggestions to Operationalize the PCMH Concept for Consumers.doc36.5 KB