From the Desk of Jo Bryson Joanne K. Bryson, CAE Executive Vice President/CEO Oregon Medical Association Jo@theOMA.org The Voice for Better Medicine Heard in Washington D.C. Oregon delegation shares list of priorities with Oregon’s legislative leaders. YOur OreGOn deleGAtiOn recently traveled to Washington, D.C. for the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference and—more importantly—to meet with our congressional delegation about issues facing physicians in our state. Two priority issues are Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) and graduate medical education (GME). The latter is also the major focus of this edition of Medicine in Oregon. SGR—Expect another patch For many years, there has been little consensus in Congress about a system that would replace Medicare’s SGR payment formula. Over the past 12 years, Congress has passed 17 short-term payment patches to prevent deep cuts to physician payments. Last year, for the first time, we saw light at the end of the tunnel. Congress was finally able to develop a bipartisan, bicameral bill that was passed by the three committees with jurisdiction over Medicare. The “SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization act of 2014” would have eliminated the flawed SGR formula, and provided meaningful physician payment and health care delivery reforms, including a viable pathway for developing and adopting them. We came so close, but here we are again facing another payment patch set to expire April 1, 2015. Unfortunately, we were told to expect another patch. This one will be the 18th—but who’s counting? GME—Gap to access is growing Twenty years ago Congress placed a cap on GME funding. Twenty years ago the nation wasn’t facing a physician shortage, now estimated to hit 90,000 by 2025, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. So how do we go about solving the problem? We have seen the number of medical student class sizes increase as well as the number of medical schools. The problem is residency programs have NOT increased. We are now facing 500 graduating medical students a year unable to match with a residency program. Federal graduate medical education program support is needed and we need Congress to act. Statewide support is also vital for our graduating medical students. Many efforts to support GME in Oregon are highlighted in this issue of our magazine. PUBlISHER’S NOTE: At the printing deadline for this issue of MIO, Congress has on the table a $215 billion package that would include a permanent repeal of the SGR, a two-year extension of the CHIP Program and a two-year extension of a package of health care related tax and spending provisions. They have a March 31 deadline before the 21.2% cuts go into effect. Let’s hope our “March Madness” plays out and health care wins. 6 Medicine in Oregon www.TheOMA.org
OMA Spring 2015 Magazine
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