The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) joined nineteen other surgical organizations, led by the American College of Surgeons, to send a letter to the U.S. Senate today reiterating they are prepared to oppose the Senate's health care reform bill due to its threat to patients' access to specialty care and its potential to harm quality care. This coalition represents over 240,000 surgeons and anesthesiologists.

The AAOS and the other surgical groups have repeatedly made their concerns known to Senate leadership, including the Senate Finance Committee, throughout the health care reform debate in attempts to improve the legislation with the goal of improving patient access to specialty care. The groups stated that the impending legislation, as currently understood, fails to address some of the fundamental problems that plague the health care system.

"The AAOS has called for meaningful health care reform for decades. We, along with other surgical associations, are committed to working for health care reform that makes surgical care more accessible to Americans. The AAOS cannot lend its support to any legislation that does not expand Americans' access to quality care," AAOS President Joseph D. Zuckerman, MD said.

The surgical groups said they plan to oppose the Senate health care reform bill if a number of provisions that were included in the Senate Finance bill are retained. In addition to failing to permanently fix Medicare's broken physician payment system and failing to include any meaningful proven medical liability reforms, the surgical community opposes a number of the bill's expected provisions including:

- Medicare Commission that would shift the responsibility for making difficult Medicare payment and coverage decisions to an unelected Executive branch agency without appropriate checks and balances.

- Mandatory participation in the seriously flawed Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) - a program through which CMS is still attempting to address systemic problems dating back to 2007.

- Reimbursement changes disguised to improve patient access to certain physician services, but through payment cuts to all other physicians - thereby exacerbating workforce shortages.

Throughout the health care debate, the AAOS has continuously met with policymakers to educate them about its principles and proposed programs that would improve quality, reduce costs and increase patient access. One such program, the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), will serve as a national, independent, not-for-profit organization with the goal of improving patient safety, improving quality of care and reducing the cost of care. Based on the projected growth of these procedures through 2030, the potential savings could exceed $1.3 billion over 20 years. In addition, the AAOS provides high quality, evidence-based information to physicians and patients through evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines which includes comparative effectiveness research.

"After examining specific aspects of the Senate's health care proposals, we believe that the bill will not address these concerns. We remain ready, willing and able to be a helpful participant in improving this legislation. Should the deficiencies of the bill not be addressed, we, along with surgical community, must announce our opposition," Zuckerman said.

The surgical groups that signed the letter include:

American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
American College of Surgeons
American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics
American Society of Anesthesiologists
American Society of Breast Surgeons
American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Urological Association
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Society for Vascular Surgery
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons
Society of Gynecologic Oncologists

Source
American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons