While federal health care reform legislation still winds its way through the halls of Congress, it’s increasingly likely that some sort of bill will finally emerge for President Obama’s signature. We feel that the final bill will amount to tepid “health insurance reform” rather than sweeping reform of the American health care system.
What many people don’t acknowledge is that health care reform is already here and it directly affects physician investors involved with ambulatory surgery centers. ASC reimbursement rates have steadily declined during the past few years and more declines are planned unless our industry succeeds in convincing Congress to enact a “floor” for ASC reimbursement.
Please read “Health Care Reform: It’s Already Here” in the current issue of our quarterly newsletter, Point of View, Winter 2009. It’s an excellent analysis of how our industry is already being impacted and how we can help educate legislators about the positive influence that physician-owned facilities have in the medical marketplace.
The simple fact is that true reform lies in the hands of the providers of medical care; government intervention is just going to complicate the market and drive up costs.
Nueterra Healthcare stands for the goals of true reform:
- Higher quality of care
- Lower costs
- Better access to care
- More efficient delivery of care
These are the points that politicians are talking about but will probably fail to address in “reform” legislation. Meanwhile, we have been realizing them for a number of years.
If government wants to impact the medical system in a positive way then states need to do away with the limiting certificate of need laws and also start adopting policies that will make health care truly consumer driven. Continue to let your legislators know the facts.