In a letter
to Senate leaders, the AAMC reiterated its positions on key components
of Senate health reform legislation that are important to the nation's
medical schools and teaching hospitals. In the letter, the AAMC
expresses "strong support" for, among other things, provisions that
would add almost 40,000 physicians to the workforce in the next
10 years, with preferences for primary care and general surgery.
The association also discusses its opposition to proposed payment
reductions, and urges Congress to take immediate action to reform
the problematic physician payment methodology and avert future cuts.
In addition to this recent correspondence, the AAMC has launched
a new Web site which highlights how the nation's medical schools
and teaching hospitals are working with Congress and the administration
to achieve meaningful health care reform.
AAMC briefs Capitol Hill on Healthcare
Innovation Zones
Academic medical center leaders held a briefing
on Oct. 27 for congressional staff to discuss the transformative
potential of Healthcare Innovation Zones (HIZs) as part of national
health care reform. The AAMC and the Congressional Academic Medicine
Caucus co-hosted the session, "Accelerating Healthcare Delivery
System Reform through Healthcare Innovation Zones." This was the
first event for the caucus, a new, bipartisan group of congressional
members dedicated to maintaining and strengthening the nation's
medical schools and teaching hospitals. During the briefing, AAMC
President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., said "we want to motivate
those on the front lines to use the tools of innovation in a purposeful
way. That's what Healthcare Innovation Zones are all about."
New AAMC ad on GME support
A new AAMC print advertising campaign
is designed to raise awareness of the physician workforce shortage
and build congressional support for expanded funding for graduate
medical education. The ads will run in Politico, The Hill, and Roll
Call from Nov. 2 -17.
New AAMC report on health disparities
A new report addresses
how U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals should commit to
the goal of eliminating racial disparities in health care. The report,
"Addressing Racial Disparities in Health Care: a Targeted Action
Plan for Academic Medical Centers," states that eliminating well-documented
disparities should be part of the mission of preparing future generations
of physicians to provide the highest-quality care. The report is
available free of charge.
House Democrats release reform legislation
On Oct. 29, House Democratic leaders released an $894 billion health
care reform package
that is expected to expand coverage to an additional 36 million
people. The Affordable Health Care for America Act establishes an
individual insurance mandate and a public health insurance option
that would reimburse providers using negotiated rates. According
to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the cost of the bill is
partly offset by $426 billion in reductions to Medicare, Medicaid,
and other federal health programs. The legislation does not include
provisions to avert the scheduled 21.5 percent reduction in 2010
Medicare physician payment updates.
Report: hospitals serving the poor are slow
to adopt EHR
Hospitals that serve disproportionately larger shares of disadvantaged
patients are slower to adopt electronic health records (EHR), according
to data
from the first national survey to measure EHR implementation. The
report, "Evidence of an Emerging Digital Divide Among Hospitals
That Care for the Poor," revealed that "lack of capital remains
a large barrier to embracing digital recordkeeping," and predicted
more disparities without the necessary federal funding. The report
concluded that successful EHR adoption rates will depend largely
on how Medicaid funds health information technology (HIT), because
the hospitals rely more heavily on it than Medicare. The report
was commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Office
of the National Coordinator for HIT at the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
On the move
The Senate has confirmed rural health care expert and family physician
Regina Benjamin, M.D., to be surgeon general. She is the founder
and CEO of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama. Prior
to that, she served as chairwoman of the Federation of State Medical
Boards of the United States, and as the associate dean for Rural
Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.
G. Richard Olds, M.D., chair of the department of medicine at the
Medical College of Wisconsin, has been named vice chancellor of
health affairs and founding dean of the medical school at the University
of California, Riverside.
