One more chance!
Congress is currently in a lame duck session, giving us one more chance to work with Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX) to help mitigate the significant cuts to cardiovascular services from the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
The Message:
Contact your Representative and ask him or her to cosponsor new legislation by Rep. Gonzalez that would require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to transition in payment cuts in excess of 10 percent due to CMS' effort to bundle together codes frequently billed together. Please ask your Senator to lead companion legislation in the Senate.
There are two ways you can contact your members:
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Email:
Your ACC's CardioAdvocacy Network website makes it easy to contact your members of Congress by email (http://www.capwiz.com/acc/home/). A sample letter is provided, but you are strongly encouraged to personalize the message to include details about the impacts of the cuts on your practice, staff and patients.
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Phone:
Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your member of Congress. To find your lawmaker(s), click here.
On a separate note,
the House yesterday approved the one-month physician payment update that the Senate passed prior to Thanksgiving. The bill extends the current 2.2 percent update from Nov. 30 to Dec. 31. There is now a bipartisan effort in the House and Senate to work on a 12-month SGR package prior to the New Year. Your ACC and the rest of the house of medicine continue to press for an update through 2011. Stay tuned!
Also, don't miss tomorrow's special "Invasive Cardiovascular Coding Update for 2011" webinar
. The webinar, which will address 2011 CPT coding changes, will take place Wednesday, Dec. 1 from 3:30-5:00 P.M. (ET). To register, go to: http://accwebinars.cardiosource.org/session.php?id=5604.
Questions/Comments contact ACC Advocate Editor Steve Erickson at
advocate@acc.org
.