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TMA has let the U.S. Senate Finance Committee know where it stands on a wide range of health care policies.
In a letter to Committee Chair Sen. Max Baucus [PDF], TMA President William H. Fleming III, MD, said TMA recognizes the timeliness and urgency of health system reform and that the association has identified problems in the current system and proposed solutions.
In addition to listing TMA's Guiding Principles for Health System Reform, Dr. Fleming's letter outlines TMA's positions on Medicare payments, enrollment, and shared savings; physician ownership of health care facilities; scarcity area bonuses; the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative; antitrust reform; readmissions and transitional care; health information technology; comparative effectiveness research; and the physician workforce.
The letter tells the committee that the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula upon which Medicare payments to physicians are based is "broken and fiscally unsustainable" and that replacement of the SGR "should be a top priority." It also says TMA supports responsible physician ownership of health care facilities and appropriate disclosure of ownership and investment information.
Action, June 3, 2009
Last Published: 6/2/2009 Print this page
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