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AMA constitution and bylaws. Jonathan Leffert, MD, an endocrinologist from Dallas, served on the reference commit- tee on legislation. Also, Kevin McKinney, MD, of Galveston, was an assistant teller for the meeting. Texas took one resolution to the meet-


ing from the May meeting of the TMA House of Delegates. The AMA house de- cided that the proposal, calling for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servic- es to “develop fair and accurate ranking measurements” for the new Physician Compare website, was covered by exist- ing AMA policy.


Other issues merit action Delegates addressed various other eco- nomic, legislative, and organizational topics. The house:


• Welcomed Peter W. Carmel, MD, a pe- diatric neurosurgeon from Manhattan, N.Y., with a practice in Newark, N.J., as AMA’s 166th president.


• Chose house Speaker Jeremy Laza- rus, MD, a Colorado psychiatrist, as president-elect; elevated Vice Speaker Andrew Gurman, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from Pennsylvania, to speak- er; and picked Dr. Bailey to replace Dr. Gurman.


• Adopted, along the lines of TMA’s 2011 legislative agenda, policy aimed at ensuring due process for physicians undergoing state medical board in- vestigations.


• Called for further research into a pro- posal for AMA to support a “soda tax,” with proceeds benefiting obesity pre- vention and public health.


• Asked for an immediate study of pharmaceutical shortages in America.


• Voted to advocate the standardization of key elements of electronic medical record (EMR) interface design in re- sponse to physicians’ concerns that EMRs are difficult to navigate and use for retrieving important patient information.


• After five rewrites, narrowly adopted ethical guidelines for financial rela- tionships with industry in continuing medical education (CME). CME pro- viders with financial interests in the educational subject matter should


be allowed to participate only when their role is “central to the success of the educational activity, the ac- tivity meets a demonstrated need in the professional community, and the source, nature, and magnitude of the individual’s specific financial interest is disclosed.”


• Adopted a “Residents’ and Fellows’ Bill of Rights,” which outlines the rights of residents and fellows in edu- cation, supervision, evaluations of performance, safe workplace, com- pensation and benefits, duty hours, complaints and appeals process, and protection when reporting violations.


• Discussed the public health safety and efficacy of airport security scan- ners and determined there currently is little evidence to suggest whether these scanners have adverse health effects on travelers, and more inde- pendent research needs to be done.


• Voted to support national legislation banning the synthetic substances known as “bath salts,” which include methylenedioxypyrovalerone and can cause paranoia, hallucinations, and violent behavior.


• Approved policy urging fast-food res- taurants to charge similar prices for traditional items such as soda and fries and healthier alternatives, in- cluding milk and apples.


CMS to sell Medicare data


Organizations that meet certain qualifi- cations would have access to Medicare data to generate public reports on phy- sicians, hospitals, and other health care professionals under the “Availability of Medicare Data for Performance Mea- surement” rule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed in early June. It is required by the 2010 health system reform bill. CMS said in a news release it would


sell standardized extracts of Medicare claims data from Parts A, B, and D to “qualified entities that have the capac- ity to process the data accurately and safely.” The data could be used only to evaluate provider and supplier perfor-


mance and generate public reports de- tailing those results. CMS has not yet specified what groups it is talking about, but officials said they would evaluate an organization’s eligibility based on:


• Organizational and governance capa- bilities;


• Addition of claims data from other sources; and


• Data privacy and security.


Under the proposal, the organizations would share the reports confidentially with physicians before they are released in an attempt to prevent mistakes. CMS says publicly released reports would in- clude aggregated information only; indi- vidual patient and beneficiary informa- tion would not be available. “We believe the sharing of Medicare data with qualified entities through this program and the resulting reports pro- duced by qualified entities would be an important driver of improving quality and reducing costs in Medicare, as well as for the health care system in general,” a CMS statement in the proposed rule said. “Additionally, we believe this pro- gram would increase the transparency of provider and supplier performance, while ensuring beneficiary privacy.” CMS will accept comments on the


proposal until Aug. 8. You may submit comments electronically to www.regula tions.gov, or by mail to Centers for Medi- care & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services, Attention: CMS-5059-P, PO Box 8012, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850. In commenting, refer to file code CMS-5059-P.


The death of “private” in private practice


A comprehensive report from The Physi- cians Foundation offers private practice physicians a new tool for understanding how federal health system reform may impact their practice of medicine. The report examines the provisions of the Af- fordable Care Act (ACA) and how they will directly impact private practice phy- sicians, both immediately and over the coming months.


August 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 9


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