FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 06, 2006
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STATEMENT OF STEPHEN J. UBL, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ADVAMED, ON PROPOSED CMS HOSPITAL INPATIENT PAYMENT RULE
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – AdvaMed President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl today issued the following statement about Medicare’s proposed hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Rule at a joint press conference held at the National Press Club with the Heart Rhythm Society, the Society for Women’s Health Research, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Association, and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
“In less than one week, the public comment period will close on CMS’s proposed rule establishing inpatient hospital payment rates for 2007. If adopted, this proposal would implement the most drastic change in hospital payment rules in twenty years.
“The groups standing at the podium today represent patients, doctors and medical technology manufacturers. We are united in saying that we support reform of the current system. Everyone benefits from the most accurate possible payments, and the existing methodology is deficient in a number of respects.
“But we are equally united in saying that a bad reform is worse than no reform at all. The proposed rule in its current form is too much, too soon, and too flawed. It does not increase the accuracy of payment. It creates massive payment cuts for some of the most advanced, effective treatments. It is based on flawed data. It is riddled with questionable technical decisions. And it is being considered in a time-frame that is so abbreviated that it does not allow a fair opportunity for analysis, comment and revision.
“The list of life-saving and life-enhancing treatments that would suffer deep cuts under the proposal is sobering. Drug-eluting stents to clear blocked arteries and treat heart attacks—cut by more than 30%. Implantable defibrillators to stop the carnage of sudden cardiac arrest that kills more than 300,000 Americans every year—cut by nearly 25%. And life-saving cardiac surgery cut as much as 13%.
“A new payment methodology that better reflects costs can be created. The proposals CMS put forward can be the basis for a better system. But the radical changes in this proposed rule require radical revisions. The cost reports that are the foundation of the new system must be modernized and made more timely. The problem of charge compression that systematically undervalues critical technologies must be addressed. Inappropriate statistical techniques used in developing the payment rates must be corrected. The new DRG severity-based classification system needs to be thoroughly reviewed and corrected.
“In order to assure that the new system does more good than harm, implementation of this proposal needs to be delayed for a year. There must be adequate time to review, analyze, and make the needed modifications. This issue is too important to patients to risk getting it wrong.”
AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. Our members produce nearly 90 percent of the health care technology purchased annually in the United States and more than 50 percent purchased annually around the world. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies.
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