It was not your typical Mark B. McClellan speech. The CMS administrator has been described as the consummate staffer, a person with an unmatched ability to sweat all the small stuff needed to make something big happen but one who never makes himself the story and whose speechifying accordingly is more detail and less driving vision. But in a speech to the National Press Club, McClellan not only ventured into the personal, but also struck a bipartisan theme that allowed him to simultaneously doff a cap to the Democratic founders of Medicare and Medicaid and quietly convey that Republicans could run them better, while criticizing the programs in their current state as bloated with inefficiency. Read more »
House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Johnson said her staff is drafting legislation that would take a "simple, streamlined" approach to increasing the use of health information technology. Witnesses at a hearing before her panel supported the idea of broadening the use of health care information technology. But they differed over whether states should be forced to meet uniform privacy standards and whether a national information network could be established without uniform laws. Read more »
In a bid to reduce deadly medical errors, the House sent President Bush legislation that would create a system for voluntary reporting and information-sharing about medical errors. The House passed the measure (S 544) by 428-3, clearing the bill for the president's signature after years of intensive negotiations on Capitol Hill. The Senate passed it by voice vote July 21. The bill "will help create a culture of awareness ... instead of continuing the culture of blame," said Rep. Michael Bilirakis, R-Fla., sponsor of identical House legislation approved July 20 by the Energy and Commerce Committee. Read more »
Rep. Nancy L. Johnson may have made a convincing case why Congress should permanently fix the flawed Medicare physician payment formula, but the Connecticut Republican shed little light on where the votes or the money will come from to get the job done. At a press briefing to formally announce the introduction of her bill scrapping the existing Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and replacing it with a quality-based payment system, Johnson said the measure "will prevent a nationwide medical crisis and ensure doctors are paid fairly for the care they provide." Read more »
Senate Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley pledged to move legislation by this fall that would address the desire to link Medicare provider payments to quality of care. "Everyone around here knows I'm a stickler for getting the most out of every tax dollar spent," the Iowa Republican said during a hearing by his panel on the issue. "Right now, we're not doing that in Medicare." He and other lawmakers and witnesses noted that hospitals, doctors, and other providers who order unnecessary tests or make mistakes may get more money from Medicare than those who delivery high-quality medical care. Read more »