As state lawmakers prepare for this year’s legislative sessions, about 200 medical association leaders last week discussed strategies for advancing medicine’s top legislative and regulatory priorities in 2014. Four issues came out at the top of the list.
1. Ensuring physician-led team-based care. Nearly 50 medical associations plan to advocate for a state legislative environment that fosters physician-led team-based care. Innovative models have been proven to improve care coordination and reduce costs.
“We have a responsibility to our patients to be leaders of team-based care,” John Bulger, DO, chief quality officer of the Geisinger Health System told attendees at the AMA’s State Legislative Strategy Conference.
Physician-led team-based care can lead to more efficient care, Dr. Bulger said. “Good teams work not because everybody is thinking the same way but because people with different views and competencies come together.”
2. Implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). State roll-out of health care reform remains an important issue for physicians, with 24 medical associations planning to address such topics as health insurance exchanges, the benefits grace period and network adequacy this year.
“As of Jan. 1, we have entered a new world,” said Andrew W. Gurman, MD, speaker of the AMA House of Delegates. “Millions more Americans will get health insurance. That will change health care in ways we can’t even imagine.”
3. Reforming Medicaid, including expansion under the ACA. The year ahead also should see considerable activity around the Medicaid program, which accounts for one-sixth of all health care spending. Many states are developing and implementing delivery and payment reforms to increase quality, reduce costs and improve health outcomes.
“Medicaid is at the crux of so much that is happening,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors. “[There’s] a transformation underway.”
4. Adopting medical liability reform. At least 23 physician associations plan to pursue medical liability reform this year, including such approaches as caps on noneconomic damages, protections for evidence-based medicine and early disclosure.
Members of a physician panel explained how several early disclosure and compensation programs have improved communication, cut costs for liability claims and reduced the number of claims filed.
Among the other issues organized medicine plans to address this year are administrative simplification, fair contracting, prescription drug abuse and public health improvement. The AMA is working in conjunction with state and specialty medical associations to advance these priorities through model bills and state-specific advocacy.
