TMA supports calls for IPAB repeal
The American Medical Association has joined the list of groups advocating for the repeal of the controversial Indepen- dent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) filed leg-
islation in the Senate to scrap the IPAB, created under the Affordable Care Act and tasked with proposing cost-saving measures for Medicare. Rep. Phil Roe, MD (R-Tenn.), filed similar legislation. Under the law, the board’s recommen- dations will take effect unless Congress acts to stop them. “The IPAB puts important health
care payment and policy decisions in the hands of an independent body that has far too little accountability,” Cecil Wilson, MD, immediate past president of the AMA, said in a letter to Repre- sentative Roe. “Major changes in the Medicare program should be decided by elected officials. We have already seen first-hand the ill effects of the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) physician target and the steep cuts that Congress has had to scramble each year to avoid, along with the significant price tag of a long-term SGR solution. The IPAB would subject physicians to double jeopardy in the form of two separate targets. At the same time, it would exempt for a sig- nificant period of time large segments of Medicare providers who are subject to no target at all, leaving physicians in a position in which they could bear a dis- proportionate burden of any cuts under the IPAB.” The Texas Medical Association also supports IPAB repeal as part of its “Find It, Fix It, Keep It” project. See www.tex
med.org/hsr for more details. The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held hearings on Representative Roe’s bill in mid-July. n
Ken Ortolon is senior editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach him by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1392, or (512) 370-1392; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
ken.ortolon@texmed.org.
September 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 35
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