HHS IG Finds Increase In Physician Billing Of E/M Services.

Modern Healthcare (5/10, Daly, Subscription Publication) reports, "Rapid growth in Medicare spending on evaluation and management visits in recent years has been driven, in part, by fraud and more physicians billing for the most expensive types of those services, according to a report by HHS' inspector general," finding that "E/M billing grew by 48% to $33.5 billion by 2010 from $22.7 billion in 2001." As a result, "Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator of the CMS, wrote that her agency plans to urge each Medicare Administrative Contractor to review the top 10 high billers in their jurisdictions."

 Taken from: MSSNY Daily TheDaily@mssny.bulletinhealthcare.com May 10, 2012

Join us on May 18, 2012
Somerset, New Jersey

Town Hall: Restoring Medical Freedom

Since World War II the U.S. Federal Government has been increasingly undermining market forces in the American medical system. In this podcast, Richard Amerling, M.D. reviews the harmful consequences of these failed top-down policies and what can be done to restore a true free market. The invisible hand of the free market would lower prices, increase quality, strengthen the patient-physician relationship, and encourage patients to make wiser health choices, leading to healthier patients, explains Dr. Amerling. Click here to read Dr. Amerling’s latest article, “The Clouded Utopian Vision for Healthcare Ignores Reality.”

Listen-

Medicare is running out of money fast; the Federal government has made promises to that it cannot keep. The Medicare Trustees report that the program’s unfunded liabilities are $38.6 Trillion, or $328,404 for Each U.S. household. Seniors who depend on Medicare for their medical care need to be allowed a way out of this failing program, explains AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient, MD in this interview with Michael Ostrolenk about her recent Washington Times editorial, “Boomers to Congress: Let’s Make a Deal”.  Dr. Orient proposes solutions that would empower these citizens to control their own medical decisions and spending instead of being forced to into the bureaucrat-rationed care of an insolvent Federal government.

Listen- 

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation today, H.R. 452 Medicare Decisions Accountability Act, that would repeal implementation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which was part of the 2010 health-care reform efforts. The so-called advisory board would have had the authority to recommend and implement reductions to Medicare for services from dcotors and hospitals without Congressional approval. The 15 member board would be selected by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  At the time of the passsege of the bill out of committee, no members of the board have been selected and the board is not operational.  

On a similar front, Chairman Herger (R-CA)  from House Ways and Means Health Subcommitte announced today that his subcommitte will hold hearings on IPAB.  The hearing to better understand the effects of IPAB will be held on Tuesday, March 6, 2012.  More info on hearing-

From our friends at Patient Privacy Rights-

Patient Privacy Rights is happy to announce the 2nd Annual Health Privacy Summit will be held June 6-7th, 2012 at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. We will have a detailed agenda up soon, however you can register for the event now! 

Over two days, the Summit will bring together experts from the field of health privacy to debate the question: "Is There a National Crisis in Health Privacy?" Academic Partners for the 2012 Health Privacy Summit Include: Patient Privacy Rights, the O'Neill Institue at Georgetown Law, Harvard Data Privacy Lab, RTI International, and The University of Texas School of Information. Patient Privacy Rights is very excited to be working with these remarkable academic institutions to provide the largest platform for discussion on health privacy.

The 1st Summit, held in June 2011, examined the future of health privacy with an impact that’s resonated throughout the year. See more about the 2011 Summit. This year we encourage people from every field of health care, from industry to government, technology to law, and physicians to patients, to attend the Summit. Our panels will be packed with experts from every area of health care, and the keynote speakers are not ones to miss.

Register-

Karen De Coster brought to my attention an interesting conflict between two federal agencies.   In her blog  she points out that Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has come out against mandating vaccines for hospital workers which goes contrary to the policies being recommended  by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) .

“OSHA believes that there must be a very high burden of proof that mandatory … programs are not just desirable, but also necessary to protect the public health before the government promotes such a controversial policy that may result in employment termination. At this time, OSHA believes there is insufficient evidence for the federal government to promote mandatory influenza vaccination programs that may result in employment termination.”

I say three cheers for Liberty and one cheer for OSHA

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed another amicus brief in support of overturning the individual mandate in Obamacare.  They were joined by our friends at the Rutherford Institute  and the HSA Coalition   Hopefully, a decision will be taken this summer in support of individual liberty and contraints on Federal power and repeal the individual mandate.  Not only is it improper for the Federal Government to mandate any product in the market place (including drugs & chemical) but its unconstitutional.  Let's hope the Supreme Court sees it that way.

Our friends at the Tenth Amendment Center have a great peice of model legislation in opposition to Obamacare and returning medicine back to the States were it is constitutionally more appropriate for it to be regulated ( minimally regulated I must add)   If your state is interested in introducing the bill, contact the center for support and also let us know at AAPS of your interest so we can support your effort.  Contact  me, michael ostrolenk <michaeldostrolenk@gmail.com>at AAPS to seek coalition support

Model Legistlation:

An Act to render null and void certain unconstitutional laws enacted by the Congress of the United States, taking control over the health insurance industry and mandating that individuals purchase health insurance under threat of penalty.

SECTION 1. The legislature of the State of ____________ finds that:

1. The People of the several states comprising the United States of America created the federal government to be their agent for certain enumerated purposes, and nothing more.

2. The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution defines the total scope of federal power as being that which has been delegated by the people of the several states to the federal government, and all power not delegated to the federal government in the Constitution of the United States is reserved to the states respectively, or to the people themselves.

3. The assumption of power that the federal government has made by enacting the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” interferes with the right of the People of the State of _____________ to regulate health care as they see fit, and makes a mockery of James Madison’s assurance in Federalist #45 that the “powers delegated” to the Federal Government are “few and defined”, while those of the States are “numerous and indefinite.”

SECTION 2. NEW LAW

A new section of law to be codified in the [STATE] Statutes as Section [NUMBER] of Title [NUMBER], unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:

A. The Legislature of the State of _______________ declares that the federal law known as the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, is not authorized by the Constitution of the United States and violates its true meaning and intent as given by the Founders and Ratifiers, and is hereby declared to be invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state, is specifically rejected by this state, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this state.

B. It shall be the duty of the legislature of this State to adopt and enact any and all measures as may be necessary to prevent the enforcement of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” within the limits of this State.

C. Any official, agent, or employee of the United States government or any employee of a corporation providing services to the United States government that enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this act shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction must be punished by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or a term of imprisonment not exceeding five (5) years, or both.

D. Any public officer or employee of the State of ____________ that enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding two (2) years or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or both such fine and imprisonment.

E. Any aggrieved party shall also have a private action against any person violating the provisions of subsections (C) or (D).

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

More information can be found at Tenth Amendment Center - Talking Points

School districts across America are labeling children as having mental disorders on the basis of subjective screening questions which frequently produce false-positive results. This testing is being done often without parents giving consent and isn’t necessarily done for the child’s interest; schools receive more funding for students diagnosed with a disorder and the child might unnecessarily be put on dangerous psychiatric drugs. In this podcast, advocates for the Parental Consent Act of 2011, John Spagnola and Arlene Tessitore, join Michael Ostrolenk to discuss this proposed law which would mandate informed parental consent for school-based screenings. Click here to read a coalition letter in support of H.R. 2769 to learn more about this issue. Please ask your Representative and Senators to support this legislation. Rep. Ron Paul, Sen. Rand Paul, and Rep. Marsha Blackburn are already supporting this bill. To add your name and organization to the coalition letter contact Mr. Spagnola at spag@gte.net.

Listen

(This is why it is vital to provide federal employees with extensive whistle-blower protections) 

The Food and Drug Administration secretly monitored the personal e-mail of a group of its own scientists and doctors after they warned Congress that the agency was approving medical devices that they believed posed unacceptable risks to patients, government documents show.

Full article-

 background documents from our friends at National Whistleblower Center

Yes, according to Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons in her recent Op-Ed in the Washington Times.  

State health officials want to mandate flu vaccinations for nearly all hospital and nursing-home employees, with no religious or other personal exemptions, saying patient protections outweigh individual choice.

Read more:Colorado wants mandatory flu shots for most hospital and nursing home workers - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19823527#ixzz1kwsampTh

Of course Dr. Jane Orient , Executive Director of the Association of American Physians and Surgenos said in the article above- 

"The right of Americans to make their own medical decisions should be respected,"   and she of course is correct.  No American should be coerced into taking a drug or chemical againt their will especially one's that might cause harm.

Adrienne Burk's article in Forbes does an excellent job providing a brief overview of the conflicts between tax payer funded science and corporate interests.   The best quote from the article is

“publishers have turned to the approach that uncompetitive corporations have always used in America: lobbying for legislation to protect their unsustainable model.”

 LEARN MORE about the battle against transparency and innovation in science -

In this podcast with Michael Ostrolenk, Richard Amerling, MD summarizes how these top-down, one-size-fits-all, “cookbook” protocols hurt patients. Dr. Amerling is Associate Professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, and the Director of Outpatient Dialysis at the Beth Israel Medical Center.

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Wayne Iverson, San Diego physician and candidate for the US House of Representatives in the California 52nd Congressional District, today commented on the surprise announcement from Washington, D.C. "The abrupt resignation of Don Berwick as the head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) signals a dramatic shift in this nation's healthcare policy." The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law in March of last year as the Obama Administration's efforts combined with a highly partisan 111th Congress attempted to gain full US government control over private health and medical care in this country. Donald Berwick was handed the top spot in the Medicare Administration during a Congressional recess because of his interest and expertise in government-controlled single-payer healthcare systems. This appointment circumvented Congress, which could have blocked the appointment because of the controversial provisions contained in PPACA. According to Dr. Iverson, "as Berwick vacates this post so goes the Administration's plans for government-mandated universal healthcare coverage."

Obamacare has been unraveling in recent months as the nation does a reality check on the practical aspects of what such massive changes in healthcare will cost and what it will do to the traditional patient-doctor relationship. Already, key provisions in the new healthcare law have been declared unconstitutional in both a lower court and appeals court. The US Supreme Court last week consented to review whether Obamacare is constitutional and should be allowed to go forward as written or be canceled out in its entirety. Dr. Iverson said, "the changes at the highest level of the Medicare Administration indicates to me that a solid case for repealing PPACA by the US Supreme Court appears to be inevitable."

Dr. Iverson went on to say, "Congress needs to continue making progress to get American healthcare back on track. The legislature needs to quickly pass a bill that provides for the immediate and complete removal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) provision in Section 1848 of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. On January 1, 2012, SGR automatically forces an additional 27.4% cut in healthcare benefits to seniors by reducing payments to physicians." The cut Dr Iverson mentioned is in addition to the automatic 2% cut which is a result of the failed efforts of the controversial Super Committee formed in August when the US debt ceiling was increased under massive protests across the country. According to Dr Iverson, "Congress can continue to do the important work of the legislative branch of the US government by preserving our seniors' access to their physicians and medical care. The people's Representatives need to do the work they were voted into office to do. Protecting our nation's seniors and their healthcare with repealing SGR is in line with that duty and obligation."

Photo of Dr. Wayne Iverson:
http://www.ereleases.com/pic/2011-Wayne-Iverson-MD.jpg

CONTACT: Dr. Wayne Iverson, WayneIverson2012@gmail.com, 858-674-4542

RELATED LINK: http://www.WayneIverson2012.com

PAID FOR BY: Wayne Iverson for Congress

APPROVED BY: Dr. Wayne Iverson

Adele Hite is the Policy Chair and founder of the Healthy Nation Coalition. The coalition works to expose the aws and misuse of science in the formation of our nation’s dietary guidelines. Promulgated by USDA, these guidelines are not based in current science and have resulted in a 30 year decline in our population’s health. Individuals should be empowered to become informed about what works best for their individual nutritional needs.

Congressmen Huelskamp and Graves wrote a letter to the the House Appropriations Committee asking that attempts by HHS to create a national governement database of patients' private medical records be defunded.   CLICK HERE to read the letter.