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critical issues have been on my mind: the impending Medicare
reimbursement cuts and liability reform. It is imperative
that we contact our senators and congressmen (Go
to www.acc.org
and click on the "Take Action Now" icon in the
lower right, and, after logging in, click on Write Your
Legislators on the top menu bar.) to let them know that "access for
seniors" will be seriously compromised by a cut in
reimbursement. As for liability, Ohio is losing
physicians very quickly---they simply cannot afford either
their primary insurance, or in some cases insurance on the
secondary market (because of prior claims). For some,
insurance is just plain unobtainable. In other cases the
"tail coverage" is 1.75 times the premium and
unaffordable. All of these financial issues make the closing of a practice
inevitable. We must get this message across. In the end,
at least to me, there will be prescription drug coverage for
seniors but no physicians to write the prescriptions!
- Share
your comments |
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| Ohio-ACC 13th
Annual Meeting |
|
Save
the Date! Saturday,
October 11, 2003
Join
us for the Ohio-ACC’s 13th Annual Meeting at the
Crowne Plaza Dayton. Bring your family because we will
celebrate the Centennial of Flight at The United States Air
Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB.
Register
today.
Fellows-in-Training
Fellows-in-training
are invited to present their research (past or present) during
the poster session, scheduled for Saturday, October 11th, from
10:00-10:30 a.m. Eligible posters may present recent data,
case study or information that has been presented previously
at a local or national meeting. A modest cash prize of $500
will be awarded to both first and second place winners in the
fellow poster session.
Learn more.
Office
Administrators
You're invited to attend either the
13th Annual Meeting or a special cardiology coding seminar
that will be held concurrently with the meeting. To register,
please call 800.227.7888.
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Medicare
Fee Cuts |
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What
can you do to stop this from happening? Contact
Congress to help prevent cuts in physician Medicare payments.
Unless Congress acts, physicians are slated to receive
a 4.2 percent cut on Jan. 1, 2004.
In-depth. |
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| Medical Liability
Reform: What You Can Do |
A
growing number of you have asked what you can do to help
advance the medical liability reform debate and raise
awareness among your patients on how they can become empowered
advocates at the state and federal levels.
In
response, the ACC has designed a medical liability reform
toolkit that gives you the resources necessary to engage your
patients and gain their assistance in achieving medical
liability reform.
Continue.
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| Ohio
Legislative Corner |
| Become
a legislative key contact, and bring the voice of
cardiology to Ohio legislators! It's easy -- just
click here.
House
Bill 71 is still alive
although the Ohio House session ended for the summer in June.
HB71 adds
inpatient hospital services to the health services for which a
physician or podiatrist may not make a referral if the
physician or podiatrist or an immediate family member has an
ownership or investment interest in the hospital or a
compensation arrangement with it.
Read
the complete bill.
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| Ohio
Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee |
The
Ohio-ACC has been the official representative of cardiology to
the Carrier Advisory Committee (CAC of the Ohio Medicare
Carrier (previously Nationwide Insurance and currently
Palmetto GBA) for as long as we have had a state chapter.
Continue.
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| ACC
PAC |
You
owe it to yourself and to your patients to support candidates
who vote with this country’s physicians and patients in
mind. Writing a personal check to the ACC PAC today will allow
you to do just that! To make a contribution* to the ACC PAC, click
here, print off the form, and mail or fax it to the
ACC at the address listed.
For
more information, visit
ACC's PAC.
You can also arrange convenient monthly payments from
your credit card.
*
Contributions to the ACC PAC are not tax-deductible.
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