“Former HHS Secretaries: Congress Should Pass Neutral Payments for Health Care,” via Alex Azar and Kathleen G. Sebelius
As a practicing oncologist, I agree with the call from former HHS secretaries to expand the site-neutral payment policy. It is a common-sense reform, regardless of one’s political leanings.
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Regardless of party, policymakers agree that it’s imperative to provide patients with the care they want close to home, at a price. This year, more than 2 million Americans are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, an all-time record. “That’s why you want to be a priority.
As the authors rightly point out, the prices of chemotherapy, mammograms, colonoscopies, and other drugs are particularly higher in hospitals than in doctors’ offices. These payment discrepancies between outpatient hospitals (HOPDs) and independent network practices drive up prices and restrict patient access. .
Discrepancies in rates have led giant hospitals to acquire doctors’ offices, inflating prices for Medicare, personal insurers, patients and employers. Case in point: Hospitals gained more than 44,000 independent practices between 2019 and 2024. As a result, more than a portion of today’s doctors are hired through a hospital or fitness system.
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Although reforming neutral bills has been a bipartisan factor, past reforms have not gone far enough to reshape or address pay disparities. Congressional reform efforts in 2015 were only implemented in newly constructed HOPDs, which account for only 2. 3% of Medicare outpatients. spending, allowing older HOPDs to continue to enjoy a higher rate of pay. It’s time to fully address this factor once and for all.
Late last year, the House of Representatives passed the Transparency and Cost Reduction Act (H. R. 5378) by a strong bipartisan vote of 320 to 71. This bill would require site-independent billing for drug delivery services, thereby cutting direct spending to cancer patients and cutting incentives for consolidation. I thank former HHS Secretaries Alex Azar and Kathleen Sebelius for highlighting the desire to standardize pay rates across service sites and signing up to call for immediate action.
— Mark T. Fleming, M. D. , chairman of the U. S. Oncology Network National Policy CouncilU. S.
“H5N1 Avian Influenza in U. S. Cattle: A Call to Action,” by Luciana Borio and Phil Krause
A question was asked in this article: “H5N1 will not be detected by the typical immediate influenza antigen tests given in emergency rooms and many doctors’ offices. The QuidelOrtho QuickVue and Sofia Flu tests stumble upon H5N1.
— Allison Leone, QuidelOrtho Corporation
“Free Medical School Tuition Won’t Solve the Primary Care Physician Shortage,” via Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Matthew Guido
Economists on both sides agree on one point: The American Medical Association is a lobbying organization that helps keep doctors’ salaries artificially high. To achieve this, it maintains a low number of doctors. In most countries, medical education begins immediately after high school and lasts five years. The U. S. requires a bachelor’s degree first. That’s four and three years to get a medical degree. The requirement for an expensive license adds an additional burden to the physician. And then, hiring doctors has become ridiculously complicated. These are just a few of the deceptive tactics that make it difficult to become a doctor. This helps to keep the number of doctors low. Shortages are driving up their wages.
— Deepa R.
This has been going on for years.
Family medicine and other number one care physicians are still stepchildren of other specialists. With education and experience, monetary qualifications slowly limited my practice.
Clearly, having a formula that pays more for procedures than for the management of health and intellectual fitness issues will continue to restrict the expansion of family medicine and major care providers.
—Manuel Salinas
The authors list a number of important reasons why there are and will continue to be fewer family doctors in this country. For all those medical scholars who are at the top level of their graduate classes, I would add that the influence of their professional professors and mentors comes at a time when academics are most impressionable. These professors are usually specialists and subspecialists in a single discipline, known as superspecialists.
There’s nothing wrong with being special, unless the message is consistently communicated through so many words and deeds that family medicine and much of the rest of primary care are reserved for the least capable of your classmates.
Until medical school is decided among the most productive and brightest, the high-octane minds and social considerations that the number one care physicians will have to include will remain unparalleled.
—Barry Farkas
“An FDA Pathway May Accelerate Innovation for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,” via Jennifer Handt
I am touched by this article about Duchenne muscular dystrophy. We have made spectacular progress in the genome sequencing of very rare diseases and we will have to continue down this path to obtain results for patients and quality of life for young people like Charlie. Let’s keep striving until we break the road. Code. I strongly encourage the FDA to use the Rapid Approval Program for new treatments. We can also learn more by employing AI in healthcare. It takes wonderful minds and a lot of concentration to find a cure for diseases like Duchenne. Thank you. !
—Ken Checicki
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