Hundreds of physicians have begun Day 1 of the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference with a unified mission: Sharpen their message on the top health policy issues and drive it home to Congress.
“If I had to sum up the goal of the National Advocacy Conference in a word, it would be ‘action,’” AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, said as she welcomed attendees from around the country.
“[We’ll be] pounding the pavement and marching up to Capitol Hill, speaking to legislators face to face, reminding them that at the end of the day—when the conversations have ceased and the board rooms have closed—we’re the ones sitting in the exam room with the patient,” Dr. Hoven said. “We’re the ones who feel the full weight of health care decisions.”
Daniel Heinemann, MD, a family physician in Canton, S.D., has attended the conference for a decade—just shy of the AMA’s 11-year battle to repeal the so-called “sustainable growth rate” (SGR) payment formula that has created ongoing instability for physicians and Medicare patients. Despite the issue’s persistence, Dr. Heinemann keeps coming back.
“It’s important that our members of Congress continue to hear what this issue is and how it’s impacting our colleagues back home,” he said, noting a “disconnect” between lawmakers’ understanding of the policy and how it affects patients and physician practices.
Dr. Heinemann’s tenacity isn’t unique among the physicians at this year’s conference.
“I’ve written letters and emails and made phone calls every year for over a decade,” said David Bensema, MD, an internal medicine physician in Lexington, Ky. The effect of Medicare’s SGR formula “has been so distracting for patient care and other priorities that we have. This is a great opportunity to get rid of it.”
This year’s conference falls at a critical time, just weeks before Congress’ March 31 deadline to pass a bipartisan repeal bill that has been in the works for a year. Meanwhile, a 24 percent payment cut is scheduled to take place April 1.
Beginning Wednesday, conference participants personally will call on their members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill and vote for repeal before the fast-approaching deadline.
That will be one part of the AMA’s National Action Day for SGR Repeal, a nationwide effort to flood Congress’ phone lines with calls from physicians insisting that they fix Medicare now.
“If we can make our Congress members’ phones ring off the hook, that can make a huge difference,” said Marilyn Heine, MD, a hematologist-oncologist in Dresher, Pa. “This is the time to call in. It will take less than a few minutes and have a long impact for our patients and practices.”
Call your members of Congress now via the AMA’s toll-free grassroots hotline at (800) 833-6354. Tell them to repeal SGR and co-sponsor the bill, H.R. 4015/S. 2000.
