In The News
May 15, 2013
| National Journal
Good News for Doctors and Budget Hawks
Issues: Health Care
The price tag for repealing a flawed Medicare doctors' pay formula will remain near a recent record low, according to a new estimate from the independent Congressional Budget Office released on Tuesday. It’s good news for the physicians and lawmakers who hope to see a permanent “doc fix” in 2013, and suggests the momentum behind achieving repeal is likely to continue this year. What's more, the CBO lowered its estimates Tuesday for Medicare spending between 2014 and 2023 by $85 billion. In February, the CBO, which analyzes the country’s budget and the price of proposed...
May 6, 2013
| The Times Tribune
Bottleneck in medical education
Issues: Health Care
It's a season of joyous firsts for the founding class of the Commonwealth Medical College. Students were matched with residencies a few weeks ago and this Saturday, the students will become the school's first M.D. graduates. That's good news on a broader scale because TCMC is in the first wave of a new group of medical schools created, in part, to deal with a growing national doctor shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that the nation will have a doctor shortage of 62,900 by 2015 and up to 140,000 by 2025. Nationally, medical school enrollment is...
Apr 25, 2013
Is a Medicare 'Doc Fix' in the Works?
In an era when cooperation in Washington can seem impossible, two bipartisan proposals now circulating aim to resolve a problem that has plagued lawmakers a long time — how to stabilize Medicare pay for doctors. Each year the current payment system (called the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, which tethers doctors' pay to overall growth in the economy) leaves doctors worried about a major pay cut, leaves older adults worried that their doctors will exit the program, and leaves lawmakers scrambling for funds to ease everybody's minds — but only for one more year. The bipartisan...
Apr 23, 2013
Bipartisan Group of 124 Lawmakers Express Concern That Medicare Cuts to Life-Sustaining Cancer Drugs Threatening Patient Care
Issues: Health Care
WASHINGTON, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Community Oncology Alliance (COA), ION Solutions and The US Oncology Network today commended a bipartisan group of 124 lawmakers in the U.S House of Representatives who sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expressing concern that Medicare cuts to critical cancer medications, which took effect on April 1 as part of the budget sequester, are forcing oncologists to turn away cancer patients. The letter, led by Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX), Gene Green...
Mar 15, 2013
| Philadelphia Inquirer
Pennsylvania state colleges expanding access in center city
Issues: Education
Pennsylvania’s state higher education system has expanded access to its programs to Philadelphia residents with the opening of a renovated site in center city where several of its universities are offering classes, officials said this week. The “Multi-University Center,” based on the third floor of the Mellon Independence Center at 701 Market St. is providing classes toward both bachelor’s degrees and graduate degrees. Mayor Nutter, U.S. Reps. Chaka Fattah and Allyson Schwartz and Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, are among the...
Mar 15, 2013
| The Hill
House bill would create 15K new residency positions
Issues: Health Care
A bipartisan House bill reintroduced Thursday would create 15,000 more medical residency positions under Medicare in a move to alleviate the looming U.S. doctor shortage. The measure from Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) would mandate that 50 percent of the positions train residents in primary care. It would also require federal health officials to study the specialty needs of the U.S. healthcare system as they evolve and allocate residencies accordingly. "It's not a problem of people going into medicine," Schock told a press conference....
Mar 14, 2013
| Wall Street Journal
Squeeze Looms for Doctors
Issues: Health Care
U.S. medical schools are expanding to meet an expected need for more doctors due to the federal health law. With at least 12 new schools opening and existing ones growing, enrollment is on track to produce 5,000 more graduates a year by 2019. But medical educators are cautioning that those efforts won't do anything to alleviate a doctor shortage unless the number of medical residency positions rises as well. The number of federally funded residencies has been frozen since 1997. Marcos Uribe of Bell, Calif., is among those seeking a medical residency in the annual 'match...
Feb 14, 2013
| The Hill
Ways and Means unveils tax reform working groups
The House Ways and Means Committee formally announced 11 separate working groups they hope will push the ball forward on tax reform. The working groups will not be charged with crafting recommendations or proposals in their issue areas, but will instead be on more of a fact-finding mission. Each working group has until April 15 to turn in their feedback, and will be reaching out to a wide range of sources – stakeholders, academics, fellow lawmakers, tax practitioners and the public at large. The groups will each have a GOP chair, with a Democrat holding the vice chair slot. Rep. Dave Camp...
Feb 7, 2013
| The Intelligencer
Schwartz: Bill would fix physician pay for Medicare services
Issues: Health Care
Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz is teaming up with a Republican on legislation to reform the way doctors are paid to provide Medicare services. On Wednesday, Schwartz, D-13, and Nevada Congressman Joe Heck introduced the Medicare Physician Payment Innovation Act they say will provide long-term stability in the Medicare physician payment system and contain the rising growth in health care costs while improving care to seniors. “This is about improving quality and outcomes (of medical treatment) and containing the rate of the cost,” Schwartz said in a telephone interview. “That is my goal. “...
Feb 7, 2013
| POLITICO
Medicare pay formula may finally get fixed
Issues: Health Care
Efforts to finally get rid of that dreaded Medicare payment formula could see smoother sailing now that the Congressional Budget Office has sliced the price tag nearly in half. That could give momentum to legislation like the bipartisan repeal bill Reps. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and Joe Heck (R-Nev.) unveiled Wednesday morning — a reincarnated version of their bill doing away with the Sustainable Growth Rate formula. “I think the new CBO number bodes well for passing the legislation — it’s a much smaller hill to overcome,” Heck said. The CBO downgraded the cost of repealing the flawed...
