SCAI is very concerned about plans by CMS and its contractors to engage in prepayment review of charts for appropriateness through the Recovery Audit Program Prepayment Review demonstration and carrier-specific programs. In Florida, the Medicare Administrator Contractor (MAC) Firstcoast will be focusing on prepayment review of 15 DRGs, including stent implantations, PCI procedures without stents, other vascular and circulatory-system procedures, as well as ICDs, pacemakers, and a few noncardiovascular procedures.

SCAI and its partners in the Alliance of Spcialty Medicine offered feedback earlier this week on Section 10332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to make claims data available to qualified entities for the evaluation of the performance of providers on measures of quality, efficiency, effectiveness, and resource use. In comments to CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick, the Society reiterates its support of efforts to help physicians better understand the quality and cost of their care and to provide them with tools that will allow for the continuous improvement of care. However, the Society cautions CMS to move carefully in implementing programs that result in public reporting of performance data and that rely solely on claims data to make such determinations.

SCAI, Alliance recently expressed support for Representative Phil Roe's efforts to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board in Health Care Reform package.

In an Alliance of Specialty Medicine letter being distributed to members of Congress today, SCAI and its specialty medicine partners reiterate their opposition to the Senate passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (HR 3590) and the newly released Health Care Education Affordability Reconciliation Act (HR 4872).

SCAI was on Capitol Hill this week, hosting an educational program that drew a diverse audience of approximately 100 attendees, including House of Representatives staff, physicians and other health care providers, patients, and other members of the public. The latest in SCAI’s series of Know What Counts regional education programs was directed by SCAI Trustee Mark Turco, M.D., FSCAI, and cosponsored by the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC), Mended Hearts, and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease. The event assembled an esteemed group of speakers, including U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), to examine racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in health care and discuss how to address these issues.