La Asociaciòn Psiquiatrica Americana tiene èxito con proyecto de la Camara Federal 6331 sobre Medicare.
Felicidades a nuestros psiquiatras y a nuestros pacientes. Vean la noticia:
House & Senate Override Veto of H.R. 6331
Medicare Payment Cuts Blocked; Historic Improvements in Mental Health Enacted
".... the House and Senate overrode the President's veto of H.R. 6331 -- the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. The House vote to override was 483-41, even wider than the original House vote on passage of the bill. The Senate vote to override was 70-26.
Medicare Payment Improvements:
Congressional action blocks the impending 10.6% cut in the Medicare payment update for the rest of 2008 and for 2009, and makes other changes in the payment formula that will directly benefit psychiatrists. In addition, H.R. 6331 includes several technical changes that we believe will result in welcome improvements in Medicare payments to psychiatrists. For the rest of 2008 and for 2009, the bill provides a temporary 5% bump in payment for psychotherapy services provided in an inpatient, outpatient, office, partial hospital, or residential care setting, provided that the services are "insight oriented, behavior modifying, . . . supportive . . . or interactive psychotherapy."
H.R. 6331 also shifts the underlying Medicare payment budget neutrality requirement from work relative value units to the conversion factor, effective with the fee schedule in 2009. Under current policy, the budget neutrality requirement falls on the relative work value component of the payment formula. This concentrates the effects on physicians who provide cognitive services, which disproportionately hurts psychiatrists. By shifting the budget neutrality requirement from the work value to the conversion factor, the bill spreads the obligation to all health professionals, rather than to cognitive specialists. Taken together, we believe that all of these changes in payment policies will have a significant positive impact on Medicare payments to psychiatrists.
Historic Improvements in Mental Health Coverage:
More importantly, the override means that most significant changes in Medicare coverage of treatment of mental illness since the program was founded more than 40 years ago are now the law of the land.
First, our long campaign for mental health outpatient treatment "parity" in Medicare has succeeded. Starting in 2010, the discriminatory 50% coinsurance for outpatient mental health services will be reduced by 5% per year through 2013. In 2014 and thereafter, Medicare patients will pay the same 20% coinsurance for outpatient mental health services that they pay for all other care under Part B.
Second, effective January 1, 2013, Medicare Part D will pay for benzodiazepine and barbiturate prescriptions.
Third, effective with the date of enactment, Medicare law will include special protections to ensure that medically vulnerable patients will be assured access to "all or substantially all" of the medications they require, specifically including antidepressants and antipsychotics among other medications.
Taken together, all of these provisions mean that Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 is landmark legislation representing the culmination of many years of effort by APA, its leadership, members and staff. We can all be tremendously proud of the result of our collective work".
(end of quote from Office of Government Relations of the American Psychiatric Association)
