How NASS plans to advocate for physicians and patients this year
By Admin | April 28, 2021
Prior authorization remains a key focus for the North American Spine Society's advocacy efforts this year. The organization also has its eyes on enhancing a bill to protect patients from surprise medical billing.
NASS President Eeric Truumees, MD, and advocacy council Chair Phil Schneider, MD, told Becker's Spine Review about their plans.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for style.
Question: What are key areas of focus for advocacy for physicians in 2021?
Dr. Eeric Truumees and Dr. Phil Schneider: We surveyed our members two months ago, so we know exactly what our physicians want. Stabilizing Medicare reimbursement is the No. 1 issue. Practically, this requires removing the sequester cuts, which we just successfully accomplished. Now we want to extend this beyond 2021.
Second, we have worked on the prior authorization bill. Now, with the majority of the House as co-sponsors, it is time to get it passed. The goal here is to reduce the increasing burden on both office staff and physicians who have been wasting time on prior authorization which should be routinely approved.
We are also working on medical liability reform and legislative issues to preserve fee-for-service medicine. We are supporting efforts to permanently codify the telehealth payments that have been widely embraced during the...(More)
For more info please read, How NASS plans to advocate for physicians and patients this year, by Becker's SpineReview
