Health Reform Creates new Challenges for Physician Issues with Medicare Policy

The healthcare reform law included a little-publicized provision calling for the permanent dissolution of the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council (PPAC), a CMS physician advisory panel. And, although they have not yet publicly announced the advisory panel's discontinuation, HHS informed PPAC members of the Council's fate last month, indicating the June meeting will not take place.Providers are concerned that their venues for advancing concerns and providing input to Medicare regulations and policy are limited with the demise of the PPAC.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the new Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) established by the new reform law have physician members, but both Commissions are primarily focused on cost cutting and are not substitutes for the PPAC.Conjecture about the dissolution attributes the Council's end to the powerful Ways and Means Committee Chair Peter Stark (D-CA), who has very publicly and repeatedly focused on patient concerns over those of providers with increasing vigor over the last several years. Regardless of the motivation and source for dissolving the Council, physicians are concerned that practicing physicians have lost a platform to access regulators and vet their concerns.