ASRS, Alliance Discuss Medicare Burdens with House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman
Last week the ASRS met with Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) for a roundtable discussion with the Alliance of Specialty Medicine, a coalition ASRS joined in February. Roskam, the newly appointed Chairman, has been convening a number of recent roundtable discussions as part of the Medicare Red Tape Relief Project spearheaded by the Ways and Means Committee last year.
The Alliance outlined regulatory burdens in the Medicare Advantage program such as prior authorization/utilization management and narrow networks. ASRS highlighted problems retina specialists face when prescribing Part B drugs due to burdensome and sometimes unlawful measures by plans to delay or prevent the most appropriate medically necessary care to patients. Regarding the Medicare Quality Payment Program (QPP), among other recommendations to eliminate burdens and improve QPP, the Alliance urged the Subcommittee to oppose MedPAC’s recommendation to eliminate MIPS and move to Advanced APMs that are not available to most specialists. We urged the Subcommitte to maintain MIPS as a meaningful option and call on CMS to simplify MIPS scoring and reporting, improve transparency and address ongoing challenges with EHR interoperability, including problems registries and QCDRs have connecting to certified electronic health record technology (CEHRT).
The ASRS will continue to work with the Subcommittee to pursue legislation and direct CMS to work with physicians to reduce burdens associated with the Medicare Program and improve upon avenues for meaningful participation in QPP for retina specialists.