2010 AMA-MSS Annual Meeting

June 10-12, 2010
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Programming Highlights

• View the complete meeting agenda

Educational programs
More than 700 medical students from across the country attended the 2010 AMA-MSS Annual Meeting, which offered more than 25 educational programs on a range of topics including medicine and the media, surviving and thriving in medical school and residency, benefits of advanced degrees, Healer’s Art, and more. A keynote panel explored the history and transformation of medical education in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the “Flexner Report.”

• Download select educational program presentations

Medical Specialty Showcase
The AMA-MSS hosted its 7th Annual Medical Specialty Showcase, which was a resounding success. More than 50 specialty societies represented in the AMA-HOD were on hand to provide an introduction to their specialties and to offer materials to assist medical students in their career decision-making.

National Service Project event
Despite the weather, more than 40 students participated in an outstanding "National Get Outdoors Day" event at Lincoln Park Zoo as part of the AMA-MSS national service project. The students educated the public about the AMA’s Healthier Life Steps™ program, the concentration of the Section's national service project through 2011. Hundreds of visitors learned about four key health behaviors—poor diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and excessive or risky use of alcohol. In addition, medical students facilitated healthy lifestyle activities for children, including exercise sessions, and body mass index and blood pressure screenings for adults.

Humanities Initiative
The AMA-MSS held its first annual Humanities Initiative, focusing on Empathy through Art and Poetry, at the 2010 AMA-MSS Annual Meeting. Thirty-three medical students from around the country submitted entries for viewing and judging at the AMA-MSS welcome reception. Congratulations to this year's winners:

• First place: Shawna Bellew, University of Central Florida College of Medicine
• Second place: Seema Varghese, Michigan State University College of Medicine
• Third place: Manuel (Trey) Penton, University of South Florida College of Medicine
• Fourth place: Sonya Hovsepian, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine

Thank you to all who submitted entries, and to those who judged the entries.

Governing Council Elections

The AMA-MSS Assembly elected the following members of the 2010-2011 AMA-MSS Governing Council:

• Vice Chair: George Salloum, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
• Delegate: Steve Lee, Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Alternate Delegate: Michael Best, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• At-Large Officer: Busayo Obayan, Boston University School of Medicine
• Speaker: Andrew Lutzkanin, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine
• Vice Speaker: Paul Mayor, Medical College of Georgia

At the conclusion of the meeting, Christopher Bucciarelli, University of Florida College of Medicine, commenced his term as AMA-MSS Chair, and Meredith Williams, Baylor College of Medicine, commmenced her term as student member of the AMA Board of Trustees (BOT). A special thanks to Hans Arora, AMA-MSS Immediate Past Chair, and Justin Mahida, past student member of the BOT, for their outstanding service.

Policy Highlights

The AMA-MSS Assembly considered 35 items of business spanning a wide range of issues, including taxes on medical school tuition, the cost of the USMLE and COMLEX licensing examinations, the role of physician extenders, and the repeal of the "Defense of Marriage Act." Thirty-one of these items were adopted in some form, seventeen of which will be forwarded to the AMA House of Delegates for consideration at the 2010 Interim Meeting in San Diego.

• Proceedings of the 2010 AMA-MSS Annual Meeting

US Senate Modifies
Medicare Payment Legislation

On Friday, June 18, the US Senate passed H.R. 3962, now called the "Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010," which provides for an increase of 2.2% in Medicare physician payment for June through November of 2010. You may recall the US House passed another version of H.R. 3962 in late May, which called for multi-year increases or freezes in physician payments, in lieu of the 21% cuts that went into effect on June 1.

Now, H.R. 3962 must return to the House to determine whether that chamber will agree with the changes made to the bill in the Senate. The House is not expected to take any votes until Tuesday, June 22. Until the US House passes the bill and the President signs it into law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed its carriers to process Medicare physician claims at a 21 percent lower rate as of June 18. CMS had placed a hold on paying physician claims with the 21% cut required by the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate formula. If and when H.R. 3962 becomes law, CMS will retroactively adjust any June claims that have been paid at the lower rate. It is unclear, at this time, whether physician offices will be required to resubmit those claims.

One of KMA's five principles for health reform is repeal of the flawed SGR formula. To contact your Congressman about the SGR formula and reductions in Medicare physician payment, click the link below.

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
http://www.votervoice.net/link/target/kyma/FQBrgNcN.aspx

eVoice^® Alert

June 18, 2010

Senate passes six-month SGR fix

The U.S. Senate passed an amended version of H.R. 3962, now called the “Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010,” by unanimous consent this afternoon. This legislation provides a 2.2 percent Medicare physician payment update for six months, from June 1 through Nov. 30, in lieu of the 21 percent cut scheduled for 2010.

Unfortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives is not scheduled to hold any floor votes until the evening of June 22. As a result, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is instructing its carriers to lift the hold on processing claims for services provided on or after June 1, and to begin processing them under the law’s negative update requirement. In other words, claims will begin to be paid today at the 21 percent lower rate on a first-in/first-out flow basis.

Once H.R. 3962 is passed by the House and signed by President Obama, CMS will retroactively adjust any June claims that have been paid.

View an AMA news release about the Medicare physician payment crisis.

eVoice^® Alert

June 17, 2010

CMS will process claims tomorrow, June 18,
with 21 percent cut

As the clock continues to tick toward the June 18 final deadline for implementation of the 21.3 percent cut in Medicare physician payments produced by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, U.S. Senate debate continued June 17 over H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. In addition to providing another short-term reprieve from the impending Medicare cut, the legislation would increase federal Medicaid funding and extend various expiring programs, such as disaster relief and long-term unemployment insurance benefits.

If legislation is not signed into law before the weekend, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have no option but to instruct its contractors to begin processing Medicare claims for physician services provided in June at rates that reflect the 21.3 percent cut.

Once the House and Senate act to avert the cut, claims will be processed as follows:

• If the submitted charge is higher than the new rate, the contractor will automatically reprocess the claim.
• If the submitted charge is lower than the new rate, the physician should call the contractor.

CMS says almost all physicians submit claims for more than the Medicare rates. No one is going to be reviewing the limiting charge for the period that the cut was in place because CMS assumes Congress will ultimately make the fix retroactive.

The Office of Inspector General and CMS are close to releasing a document to waive patient co-pay requirements for situations such as the retroactive increases that were made to the geographic practice cost index increases. CMS will share that document once it is available.

Congressional inaction is a dereliction of duty

Democrats and Republicans in Congress are responsible for the current Medicare payment debacle. Congress has missed three separate deadlines and is now allowing cuts to go into effect that they pledged they would not allow to occur.

We expect our elected officials to resolve budget issues without punishing physicians, seniors and military families. State medical societies and national specialty societies sent a joint statement to Congress on June 16 that emphasizes this point. Continue to let your representatives and senators know that their inaction is unacceptable, and that it is harming patients and physicians across the country.

Use the AMA Physicians’ Grassroots Network toll-free hotline at (800) 833-6354 to call your lawmakers and tell them to repeal Medicare’s SGR formula once and for all.

Details on Senate impasse over Medicare physician payment cuts

The debate and delay in the Senate centers on growing concerns about how much the legislation would add to the federal deficit. On June 16, a substitute amendment to the House-passed version of the bill, offered by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., was defeated on a bipartisan vote of 45-52. That amendment would have afforded a 19-month reprieve from the scheduled Medicare payment cuts by providing a 2.2 percent update for the remainder of 2010 and an additional 1.0 percent update in 2011. In 2012, physician payments would have been reduced by 33 percent.

After the defeat of his first amendment, Baucus introduced a second substitute amendment late on June 16 with reduced spending and additional funding offsets. The SGR relief provision was scaled back to a six-month, 2.2 percent update that would expire Nov. 30, 2010, after which the 21.3 percent cut originally scheduled for 2010 would take effect. Reports from Capitol Hill on June 17 indicate that this package may still lack the bipartisan support needed to reach the 60-vote threshold that is required to end debate and pass a final bill.

On June 17, an amendment offered by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., was defeated on a vote of 41-57. The amendment was far less costly than either Baucus proposal, and according to the Congressional Budget Office, would begin reducing the federal deficit. It also would have provided 2.0 percent Medicare physician payment updates for the remainder of 2010 and all of 2011 and 2012, followed by a steep payment cut of well over 30 percent and an additional statutory cut of 4 percent. The Thune amendment also included medical liability caps on non-economic damages and other traditional tort reforms.

Because the Senate is considering substantial revisions to H.R. 4213, the bill will have to be sent back to the U.S. House of Representatives for passage. While House leaders have indicated they are prepared to stay in session late tomorrow, June 18, so that a vote can be held on the bill, it is far from clear that the Senate will be able to complete its consideration before the weekend.

A 61-Year-Old Woman With Intermittent Worsening Abdominal Pain

http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/720078?src=emed_case_nl_0&uac=147602PZ