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2008 Legislative Recap – A Great Session for CMS!
2008 Legislative Recap – A Great Session for CMS!
Colorado physicians can point to the 2008 legislative session with pride. Our agenda succeeded on every level: we passed (with broad bipartisan support) the bills we had developed, we defeated the bill that threatened physicians' livelihood, and we engaged constructively with allies and opponents on all issues affecting medicine, to minimize adverse impacts and maximize benefits to physicians and patients.
Medicine also had a win with Gov. Ritter's Medicaid reimbursement increase for primary care services. That came directly from the recommendations of the CMS/Specialty Medicaid Reform Task Force, and represented a good-faith effort on the part of the governor to respond to physicians' needs. He found unexpected savings in this year's budget to fund the reimbursement increase, and staked political capital on funneling those extra dollars to Medicaid rather than other competing priorities.
More than 100 health care-related bills were introduced this session; Click here to read an overview of the legislation and executive action on which CMS was most engaged:
http://www.cms.org/ASAP/08LegRecap.pdf
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National
Medical Legislative Issues
GREAT NEWS!
7/16/08
It’s been a banner day of whirlwind activity on the Medicare bill today. The President announced his veto this morning; the House voted 383-41 this afternoon to override, and the Senate just voted 70-26 to do the same.
That means that the 10.6% cut will NOT take effect. Medicare claims will be paid at the 2008 rate schedule thru the end of the year, and a 1.1% increase will take effect Jan. 1, 2009 for the duration of 2009. During these 18 months, we will continue to keep pressure on Congress to revamp the fundamentally broken SGR formula. We simply can’t afford to continue this way.
Of special note: Rep. Marilyn Musgrave voted to override the veto, the first time she has done so. This is a significant gesture on her part, and an acknowledgement that she understands the devastating effect the Medicare cut would have
on patients and providers in her district. CMS has expressed our profound appreciation to the congresswoman in a statement we released to newspapers in her district this afternoon.
While we have not yet received official word from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, it is our assumption that they will begin processing claims tomorrow (remember, they put a hold on all Medicare claims for the first 10 business days of July). If we learn anything different, we will notify all members
and office managers.
Once again, we hope that all of you will take a moment to thank the members of our delegation who voted for the override:
Sen. Salazar
Rep. DeGette
Rep. Musgrave
Rep. Perlmutter
Rep. Salazar
Rep. Udall
Thank you to all CMS and Connection members who have made your voices heard on this critically important issue. Your calls and e-mails helped to turn the tide – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Edie Sonn
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Edie Sonn, MPP
Director, Division of Public Affairs
Colorado Medical Society
720-858-6327 (direct)
720-201-7307 (cell)
Edie_sonn@cms.org
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