Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE

“As we observe every day, clinical medicine, related technology, and how we pay for and manage care are changing faster than any other time in history. We must increase our skills in understanding this change, driving that change that is necessary, and adapting successfully to that unavailable change that characterizes much of our world,” said Dr. Nielsen in the August 2012 Bulletin . The Ad Hoc Payment Workgroup was created in 2013 to address the eminent effects of the transition away from the traditional fee-for-service model of payment. This group, which served as a subgroup of the Physician Payment Policy Workgroup (3P), was created to review current and future payment trends in otolaryngology and other specialties with recommendations to the Executive Committee and Board for AAO-HNS/F action. Effort to Repeal SGR The house of medicine continued to endure havoc from the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician payment program, which was enacted in 1997, and with lack of action from Congress providing any long-term solution. And while there was a short-term patch to the SGR formula during 2012, the Academy, along with other medical societies, advocated for greater change. “We are not just sitting on the sidelines watching the debate, nor are we limiting our involvement to vocally objecting to unworkable proposals. The Academy is proactively engaged in addressing quality improvement in the delivery of otolaryngology care and specifically identifying gaps in knowledge and delivery of care, overuse of certain types of care, and ways in which we can more effectively provide better value for the care we provide,” said Dr. Nielsen in the April 2012 Bulletin . Much of the work to advocate for fair payment was being carried out specifically for otolaryngology by the AAO-HNS/F Research & Quality and Health

Policy Department. The 3P Committee, comprised of the Socioeconomic and Practice Affairs Coordinators, the CPT and RUC teams and additional payment experts, led these efforts often relying on the quality related products made available by the group of quality related committees: the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Committee, the Outcomes Research and Evidence-Based Medicine Committee, the Advisory Committee on Quality, the Guidelines Development Task Force, and the many content committees, which systematically contributed suggestions as well as reviewed materials and proposals from other sources. The combined efforts allowed this monumental effort to be successful. Finally in 2015, the passage of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) signaled the end of a 14-year journey that included 17 short-term “patches” for Medicare’s flawed SGR, which was the physician payment formula that was enacted in 1997 and a contact legislative agenda for the Academy and the entire house of medicine. MACRA not only During the AAO-HNSF 2012 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience in Washington, DC, nearly 250 otolaryngologist head and neck surgeons signed a “Declaration of Independence from the Sustainable Growth Rate Formula” petition. The petition was delivered to every member of the U.S. Congress.

IN-DISTRICT GRASSROOTS OUTREACH

2013: Launched In-district Grassroots Outreach (I-GO) program to engage members with their state and federal officials at home in their legislative districts.

2013: An assessment and evaluation of IT infrastructure resources and staffing requirements was conducted resulting in a new strategy and implementation plan.

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