Dear NVOS Members,
The articles contained in this e-newsletter are excerpted from AAOS newsletters and other media sources to help our members stay current on national issues.
The NVOS Staff |
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Senate Committee Hears Expert Testimony On SGR Repeal
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 HealthLeaders Media reports that the U.S. Senate Finance Committee has heard testimony regarding a replacement for the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula on May 10. Testifying before the committee were representatives from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Engleberg Center for Healthcare Reform, as well as a consultant who formerly worked for the General Accounting Office. Committee Chair Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says that a window of opportunity to reform the SGR is open, due to reduced estimates of the cost of repeal. "We should not simply repeal the SGR," he stated. "We must also change the underlying fee-for-service system."
Read more...
Read witness testimony and statements from the committee leaders...
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IPAB Won't Take Effect For At Least Another Year
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The Washington Post reports that the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which is called for under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will not be triggered for at least one more year. IPAB is designed to take effect only when Medicare per-enrollee spending grows faster than the average of medical price growth and overall price growth under the Consumer Price Index. PPACA calls for Medicare's chief actuary to determine by April 30 whether spending growth had hit the trigger point, and it has not.
Read more...
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HHS: Strong Rise In Use Of EHR Systems Over Past Five Years
| The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has  announced that the agency has exceeded its goal for 50 percent of physician offices and 80 percent of eligible hospitals to have electronic health records (EHR) systems by the end of 2013. According to information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 percent of physicians and nine percent of hospitals were using an advanced EHR system in 2008, while more than 50 percent of eligible professionals and more than 80 percent of hospitals have now demonstrated meaningful use and received an incentive payment.
Read more...
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CDRH Program To Look At Advancing Women's Health
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has announced a public workshop on women's health. The CDRH Health of Women (HoW) program seeks to bring together industry, clinicians, researchers, academia, government agencies, and patient/advocacy groups in an effort to:
- Develop device-specific clinical study recruitment and retention strategies
- Analyze and communicate sex-specific findings to providers and patients
- Create a priority research road map for the HoW device ecosystem
The public workshop will be held June 24-25, 2013, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plenary portions of the workshop will be webcast. Those interested in viewing the webcast must register online by 5 p.m. on June 14, 2013. CDRH recommends registering early, as webcast connections are limited.
Read more (PDF)...
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Report: ED Physicians Have Disproportionate Impact On U.S. Healthcare System
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 A report from the RAND Corporation finds that emergency department (ED) physicians have become the major decision makers for approximately half of all U.S. hospital admissions. The report states that, although hospital EDs and the physicians who staff them represent only a small portion of the U.S. healthcare system, they have a profound impact on the health of patients, the financial well-being of hospitals, and aggregate health care spending. "ED physicians account for only about 4 percent of U.S. physicians," the authors write, "but they manage more than 10 percent of all outpatient hospital visits and more than one-quarter of visits for new or changing symptoms, focusing disproportionately on those involving potentially dangerous or troubling symptoms, such as chest or abdominal pain, severe headache, or shortness of breath."
Read the research brief...
Read the complete report...
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GAO Report Suggests More Equitable Path To Allocate Medicaid Funding
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A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) identifies data sources that could be used to develop measures to allocate Medicaid funding to states more equitably than currently used Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, which is based solely on per capita income. The agency states that any funding allocation mechanism should ideally take into account both the demand for services in each state and geographic cost differences among states, as well as ensure that taxpayers in poorer states are not more heavily burdened than those in wealthier states. GAO's analysis suggests that measures of the demand for services, geographic cost differences, and state resources (e.g. the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics survey, and the Department of the Treasury's Total Taxable Resources measure) could be combined in various ways to provide a basis for allocating Medicaid funds more equitably among states.
Read more...
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CBO: Budget Proposal Would Reduce Medicare Spending By About $364 Billion Over 10 Years
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The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the fiscal  2014 budget proposed by President Obama would reduce Medicare spending by about $364 billion over 10 years. CBO notes that the president's budget assumes replacement of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, which currently calls for a 24 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement to take place Jan. 1, 2014. However, because a model for SGR replacement has not been identified, CBO based its expenditure estimates on freezing payment rates at their 2013 level for the next 10 years, which would increase net outlays by $139 billion over the 2014-2023 period.
Read more...(registration required)
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DePuy To Discontinue Two Hip Systems
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DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., has announced that, effective Aug. 31, 2013, it will discontinue sales worldwide of the company's ULTAMET� Metal-on-Metal Articulation and COMPLETE™ Ceramic-on-Metal Acetabular Hip System. The ceramic head used in COMPLETE will continue to be available for use in other bearing surface combinations. The company states that it is discontinuing the products due to low use by clinicians, the availability of other options, and proposed regulatory changes for the entire class of metal-on-metal products. According to the New York Times, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had earlier told producers of all-metal hips that any models that were cleared for sale through a regulatory route that did not require premarket clinical testing in patients would have to run such studies in order to continue marketing them.
Read more...
Read the DePuy statement...
Read the FDA proposal regarding regulatory changes...
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Visit The NVOS Website For The Latest Updates
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Thank you to the 2013 NVOS Annual Meeting Exhibitors
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Platinum Level
Stryker Ortho Stryker Spine
Gold Level
Globus Medical
Medtronic Navigation
Medtronic Spinal
Private Bank- Nevada State Bank
Smith & Nephew Orthopedics
Wright Medical Technology, Inc.
Silver Level
Angiotech
Arthrex
Bank of Nevada
Biomet
Desert Radiology Solutions
LDR Spine
Steinberg Diagnostics
Valley Health Systems
Zimmer, Inc.
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2013-2014 Board of Directors
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President
Eric Boyden, MD
Immediate Past President
Hugh Bassewitz, MD
Vice-President
Abdi Raissi, MD
Treasurer
Gregg Lundeen, MD
Secretary
Colby Young, MD
Members At Large
Holman Chan, MD
Jack Davis, MD
Chad Hanson, MD
Ronald Hillock, MD
Jedediah Jones, MD
Terrence Orr, MD
James Rappaport, MD
AAOS Board of Councilors
Hugh Bassewitz, MD,
Nevada Representative
Fred Redfern, MD,
Chair
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