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DGR Telephone:
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Follow APA Advocacy on Twitter!
The APA Department of Government Relations is now on Twitter! Now you can find out about APA Advocacy activities, Congressional hearings, mark-ups, and floor votes in real time.
Please click on the following link to start following APA Advocacy Twitter:
http://twitter.com/apa_
advocacy
Questions about the Twitter page or how to set up an account? Please contact Kate McAllister at advocacy@psych.org. |
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| Administration Issues Rule Strengthening Health Plan Coverage Appeals Process
On July 22, the Obama Administration released regulations standardizing and strengthening the process by which consumers can appeal a medical coverage or claims denial by their health insurance company, including the right to appeal to an external third party. Many health plans and states already allow for internal and external reviews of medical coverage, but Administration officials said the interim final rule will strengthen and simplify the review process, giving consumers new power to fight claims and coverage denials by health insurers. With the exception of grandfathered plans, the rule is effective for plan years beginning on or after September 23. Because plan years are often based on the calendar year, however, the changes most likely will not become widespread until Jan. 1, 2011.
The rule was required under the new healthcare reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and was issued by the departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor. The Administration also announced that $30 million in federal grants will be made available to establish the Consumer Assistance Grants Program to help states create or upgrade new offices to help consumers pick health care coverage that best suits their needs, provide information about how to file complaints or to appeal a plan decision, and track complaints. |
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National Board of Medical Examiners
On July 29, APA joined the AMA, 17 other national medical specialty organizations, and 45 state medical societies in providing comments to the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), regarding the NBME March 2010 draft policy language, "Assuring Quality of the Healthcare Practitioner Workforce: An Essential Ingredient of a High Quality Health System." Produced as part of NBME's effort to reform the U.S. health care system, the policies are guidelines for itself and for other organizations in both the public and private sectors engaged health reform. While acknowledging the valuable role of the NBME in providing licensing examination services and ensuring that physicians meet common, minimum standards upon graduation, the comments raise three key issues: that the NBME should highlight professionalism of physicians; that equating a licensing exam with patient safety reforms ignores other facets of quality or performance; and that the public is best served by clear definition of the roles and skills of the various members of the health care team. Here is a link to the letter and comments:
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Senate Appropriations Committee Approves HHS Spending Bill with $1 Billion Increase for NIH
On July 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, which includes $32.007 billion for NIH - the same level as the president's budget and the House subcommittee-approved bill. The funding level is a $1 billion increase, equal to the rate of biomedical inflation. A committee-prepared summary notes that the NIH funding level includes $50 million for the Cures Acceleration Network authorized under the Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148 and P.L. 111-152). During the markup, the committee rejected, 28-2, an amendment proposed by Sen. Arlen Specter to add another $1 billion to the NIH budget by applying an across-the-board cut to other programs in the bill. The Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee had approved the bill on July 27. The Committee will release further details as the week of August 2. |
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President Bernstein Discusses APA Priorities with Rep. Jan Schakowsky
On July 20, APA President Carol Bernstein, M.D., joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), in her Capitol Hill office to discuss APA legislative priorities in 2010. Topics included the implementation of the new health care reform and mental health parity laws, such as potential barriers in access to care for persons with mental illnesses and substance-use disorders. Dr. Bernstein extended thanks to the Congresswoman and her staff for an outstanding record of support for Illinois psychiatrists and their patients. At the top of the discussion was the implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. Dr. Bernstein shared the APA's strong support of the interim final regulations, and that the APA urges the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury to finalize these rules with some additional clarifications. |
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