Former Part B News reporter Christopher Weaver, along with his colleague Kate Steadman, received praise from The New York Times columnist David Brooks for work on an article titled "Congress often blocks Medicare changes that would cut costs." Brooks cited the article from the Kaiser Health News division when pointing out Medicare has often tried pilot programs to improve care, reduce costs and make the program more efficient, but "Congress rejected them because doctors or hospitals or somebody else lobbied against them." For example, Congress has yet to enact a bundling demo project regarding heart surgeries that started in the 1990s.

Yes, there was some health care reform news over the weekend. The House passed its health bill by a slim 220-215 vote.

I wrote about the elimination of consultation codes in this week's issue and wanted to correct a point I made toward the end of the article. The new modifier mentioned in the article -- which wasn't fully detailed in the final 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule -- will distinguish the admitting physician. The admitting physician, who's coordinating the patient's care, appends the modifier to the initial care code billed for the service. After Jan. 1, specialists seeing inpatients will bill an initial care code instead of an inpatient consult code. 

A Republican health reform proposal recently unveiled by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) would save less money and cover fewer uninsured Americans than the Democratic House bill up for a vote Saturday. That's the conclusion I reached after comparing the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis of both plans.

AMA President James Rohack, MD, announced his association will support passage of the House of Representatives' health reform bill -- which is set for a vote on Saturday. Dr. Rohack says the AMA will also push for a permanent Medicare pay fix that's not found in the bill.