Advocacy in Action: Physician Payments, Insulin Pricing, and More

Here is a quick rundown of major issues being discussed by policymakers from an endocrine perspective and the Society’s current advocacy work. 

What We are Working on

Medicare Physician Payment – We are urging Congress to oppose Medicare’s proposal to change how evaluation and management services will be documented and paid that will negatively impact endocrinologists. We are extremely concerned about the impact of collapsing the level 2 through 5 visits for endocrinologists who primarily bill level 4 and 5 office visits.

  • We encourage all practicing endocrinologists to join our campaign and tell their Representative to sign the support letter circulated by Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). The letter urges Medicare to delay implementation of the proposal and recommends that the agency work with physicians and other stakeholders to develop an alternative approach that would accomplish the agency’s goals.
  • We joined with the AMA and other cognitive medical specialty societies to send a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) opposing the Medicare proposal on evaluation and management services.  The letter opposes the implementation of this proposal and asks Medicare to review other methods for redefining and valuing these services.

Obesity – We joined an amicus brief in the case of Richardson v. Chicago Transit Authority recognizing obesity as a disease and supporting its inclusion under the Americans with Disabilities Act’s definition of impairment.

Insulin Pricing – We will conduct special roundtables with members at CEU in Miami next week.  We want to hear from our members about the impact of rising insulin costs on their practices and to get  feedback on our draft position statement and recommendations to Congress.

  • “Rising Insulin Costs & How You Can Make a Difference”  Roundtables will be Thursday, September 6, at 12:15-1:15 and Friday, September 7, at 12:00-1:00.

 

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