Promoted as simply a way to help the elderly pay their medical bills, Medicare has led to the federal government controlling the practice of medicine, writes Marilyn Singleton, M.D., J.D., in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. “Federal interference has only served to increase medical costs, herd patients into managed […]
More Democrats are lining up behind “Medicare for All” as the midterm elections approach, but the idea under different names has been proposed repeatedly since 1942, as shown in the timeline outlined in the fall issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons by Jeremy Snavely. “The last 75 years have seen exponential growth […]
Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia, and now South Carolina have passed laws intending to limit licensing boards, hospitals and insurers from requiring the MOC program that is promoted by ABMS and its affiliated specialty societies. Seven more states have taken the partial step of prohibiting MOC requirements as a condition of licensure, and seventeen states have […]
Recent polls show that “healthcare is the No. 1 issue for voters,” writes Robert Pearl in Forbes. Their concerns are quite valid, states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS): Costs are too high, most Americans can’t afford them, and they are not getting what they are paying for. However, the fact that 57% […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a Proposed Rule to “blend” payments for higher-level office visits, while decreasing the documentation requirements, as part of its Patients over Paperwork initiative. CMS claims this will save clinicians 51 hours per year—likely a gross underestimate—while critics protest that doctors will get paid the same […]
The Trump Administration is liberalizing the rules to allow more people to have short-term, limited duration health insurance, but the rule is on a “crash course with a brick wall in California,” according to Kaiser Health News. In addition, a lawsuit is being filed in Maryland federal court by the cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, […]
Today, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) asked GOP Doctors Caucus chairs, Rep. Phil Roe and Rep. Andy Harris, to rethink their support for trapping more small, independent physicians’ practices in Medicare red tape in order to increase the incentive payments to large practices. The AAPS letter reads in part: “On behalf of […]
The momentum for “single payer,” “Medicare for All,” or “Medicare Extra” is building at both the state and national levels, especially after the narrow primary election victory of young democratic socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in New York, observes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The sky-high premiums, huge deductibles, and complexities of ObamaCare make […]
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 6199 Wednesday, intended to help patients take advantage of the new movement toward affordable, accessible, personalized primary care called DPC for Direct Primary Care. A monthly membership fee often less than $100 gives patients quick access to their personal physician of choice, including many tests and procedures. Some practices […]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has acknowledged the tremendous administrative burden physicians bear for documenting office visits for evaluation and management (E/M), states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). There are five levels of E/M visits with AMA-copyrighted codes, each requiring a set of “bullet points” in the record of […]