Your Medicare payment meltdown is the AMA's top agenda item, a priority that dominated the group's annual advocacy conference. The conference, which runs from March 1 to March 3, is aimed at putting AMA members in the same room as key lawmakers and federal officials.
This year's top speaker was HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who spent an hour talking and took no questions. But all was not in vain. "Although the [pay] fix being talked about is temporary, let me be clear: I on behalf of the administration ... know we need a permanent fix to the SGR," she said.
Physicians rose to their feet and gave her a standing ovation. The secretary waited until the happy noises died down, then proved she wasn't shy about pointing fingers. "It's up to Congress to act," she said. HHS had done all that was within its power to correct the SGR formula after it took Part A drugs out of the calculations going forward. The current SGR cut that went into effect yesterday is an example of what "obstructionism looks like," she said.
The next two rounds of standing ovations -- clapped in response to a few words about physician workforce subsidies and "the president ... serious about ... medical liability issues" -- didn't seem to last quite as long.
