Justice Department declares war on doctors

The Christian Science Monitor, Mises Economics Blog ^ | May 31, 2010 | S.M. Oliva

[Reeses]

As I’ve long suspected, “health care reform” has emboldened the Justice Department to take a more active role in enforcing government price controls against physicians. Today the Antitrust Division, joined by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, forced a a group of Boise orthopedists to accept price controls for worker’s compensation and HMO contracts as part of a settlement accusing the doctors of “price fixing”:

According to the complaint, the conspiring orthopedists engaged in two antitrust conspiracies, which took place from 2006 to 2008. In the first conspiracy, through a series of meetings and other communications, the orthopedists agreed not to treat most patients covered by workers’ compensation insurance.

They entered into a group boycott in order to force the Idaho Industrial Commission to increase the rates at which orthopedists were paid for treating injured workers. The Idaho Industrial Commission sets the fee schedule that determines the amount that orthopedists and other healthcare providers usually receive for treating patients covered by workers’ compensation insurance. The boycott resulted in a shortage of orthopedists willing to treat workers’ compensation patients, causing higher rates for orthopedic services.

In the second conspiracy, all of the defendants, except [one], and other conspiring orthopedists agreed to threaten to terminate their contracts with Blue Cross of Idaho. They jointly threatened to terminate their contracts to force Blue Cross of Idaho to offer better contract terms to orthopedists.

...

A doctor that feared prosecution could seek amnesty — and provide the Justice Department a blank check to rummage through his files and private communications. And if that doesn’t work, the DOJ can always seek wiretaps of physicians’ phones and computers, a power awarded the DOJ during a 2006 renewal of the PATRIOT Act. The potential exposure of your physician’s confidential records — including your medical records — is limitless.

[dljordan]

“You aint seen nothin yet. In 10 years we will be lucky if we have any doctors left.”

No, in ten years you’ll be lucky to find any Marxists left.

[hinckley buzzard]

AS you discovered, Workers Comp is not designed to help the injured worker. It is designed to protect the employer and the insurance Co. from costly litigation and expenses.

[grame]

If she’s back to work, she’s good enough. Regardless of the fact that I had to go back to have any pay. Oh, the dept of labor would have paid me maybe, but estimates on how long it would take ranged from 2 weeks to 7 months. HAHAHAHAHA. yeah, right. Nope there is no protection for me at all and in fact they pretty much consider me the bad guy for having a claim at all. Even though the other guy was given a citation and I was cleared from any wrongdoing.

[narses]

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[highlander_UW]

In 10 years we will be lucky if we have any doctors left.

I believe it's part of an Obama plan. That national force equally as funded as the US military will become necessary to fill the crisis need for medical personnel. The foundation and organization is already laid.

[uncommonsense]

How convenient:

"(3) APPOINTMENT.-Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall be appointed by the President and commissioned officers of the Regular Corps shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(4) ACTIVE DUTY.-Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall at all times be subject to call to active duty by the Surgeon General, including active duty for the purpose of training.

(5) WARRANT OFFICERS.-Warrant officers may be appointed to the Service for the purpose of providing support to the health and delivery systems maintained by the Service and any warrant officer appointed to the Service shall be considered for purposes of this Act and title 37, United States Code, to be a commissioned officer within the Commissioned Corps of the Service."

[longtermmemmory]

but here comes the SEIU to urge doctors be allowed to join.

Unions have become the government and are thus evil. but unlike government the SEIU is an UNnecessary evil.

[Grams A]

Doctors are soon going to start working for cash Only.”

That would be allright but the new health bill does mandate that everyone must have insurance and who do you think will end up setting the rates? The next step IMO will be to say that doctors cannot see private pay patients because it discriminates against those who cannot pay privately. There are too many sections of the health bill that allow Selebius’ interpretation.

[GailA]

We will be getting our medical care from the DMV, and that service STINKS to high heaven in Memphis.

[schwingdoc]

Watch as the feds dismantle the entire private health care system. Doctors' Medicare panel disbanded after 18 years PPAC was discontinued by the new health reform law. Physicians now must use other avenues to express concerns about Medicare fee for service. By Chris Silva, amednews staff. Posted May 17, 2010. PRINT|E-MAIL|RESPOND|REPRINTS| SHARE Washington -- A federal advisory panel that provided physicians one way to tell the federal government about Medicare administrative issues was quietly eliminated by a provision tucked away in the health system reform law enacted earlier this year. The Practicing Physicians Advisory Council, a 15-member board that met quarterly with federal officials to discuss matters pertaining specifically to Medicare fee for service, was officially disbanded on March 23. A provision in the health reform law repealed the section of the Social Security Act that created the council in 1992. ■How to engage CMS after PPAC ■See related content Council members were informed of the dismantling in an April 16 letter from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The secretary announced that because PPAC was being discontinued, the council's June meeting would not take place. "I want to personally thank you for your active participation as a member of the PPAC," Sebelius wrote. "I greatly appreciate your dedication and contributions pertaining to practicing physician Medicare fee-for-service program issues." PPAC's final meeting was March 8, during which officials with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services praised the group for its leadership and suggested that the imminent passage of reform legislation, with its emphasis on boosting Medicare quality and value, would enhance the council's role. "PPAC has been critical in the past couple years, and it's going to be more critical going forward," Jonathan Blum, director of the CMS Center for Medicare Management and the Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice, said at the meeting. Items touched on at the final meeting included fraud and abuse, payment accuracy and electronic medical records. The legislative language in the reform law eliminating PPAC did not give a detailed explanation for why lawmakers wanted it gone. But the title of the provision reads, "Focusing CMS Resources On Potentially Overvalued Codes." One of the responsibilities of the Medicare agency is to make necessary revisions to the amount it pays for particular service codes to reflect changes in medical practice, a process during which it seeks the advice of all types of physicians through a separate, AMA-convened committee. Disappointed members PPAC members said they hoped they could have kept working with CMS on fee-for-service administrative issues that are important to physicians, and they were disappointed to hear the council was ending. "It sent out the message that our input was not wanted or desired, and that's very disheartening," said Joseph Giaimo, DO, a Florida pulmonary care physician and board member of the American Osteopathic Assn. "It's disconcerting, because the philosophy of the health reform bill is to move forward in a timely fashion with innovative ideas. A lot of provisions in the new bill are about streamlining health services, and that's what PPAC was about." Arthur D. Snow Jr., MD, a council member and family physician in Shawnee Mission, Kan., said PPAC's elimination came as a bit of surprise. Still, he said the members had some inkling that the March 8 meeting would be the last when a new person was not named to replace outgoing Chair Vincent Bufalino, MD, a clinical cardiologist and president and CEO of Midwest Heart Specialists in the Chicago area. Dr. Snow acknowledged that the public forum for practicing physicians to engage the federal government did not always have the desired effect. "CMS has talked in circles, and it seemed like at times they weren't listening to our concerns. But hopefully we've given them some good input," he said. "We're just disappointed that this valuable tool is no longer available for physicians to communicate to CMS." Other options available to doctors Sebelius and CMS officials stressed that physicians still have numerous ways besides PPAC to keep communicating with the agency, including feedback groups, regular conference calls and public comments on Medicare regulations. The American Medical Association noted that its direct mode of contact with the agency relays physicians' interests to those who need to consider them. "It's unfortunate that this physician advisory committee has been dissolved, but it's important to note that AMA and its partners in organized medicine communicate with CMS officials on a regular basis to ensure that the voice and concerns of the physician community are heard loud and clear," said AMA President J. James Rohack, MD. For example, Dr. Rohack pointed out that the administration recently followed the AMA's counsel by removing the cost of physician-administered drugs from the calculation of the Medicare physician payment formula, a move that decreased the projected cost of a pay overhaul. The AMA also was able to convince the administration to make important changes to Medicare's recovery audit contractor program, and to push back deadlines for physicians to adopt new Medicare electronic transaction standards and code sets. And even though PPAC is not going to be around, some of those familiar with the group said its message will not be forgotten. One of them is William Rogers, MD, director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team, a group that works to reduce the regulatory burden on physicians who participate in Medicare. "I think they did a wonderful job, although sometimes their concerns were not immediately aligned with those of CMS," said Dr. Rogers, who is also an emergency physician at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. "Their role was to make sure it was understood what life was like in the physician's office." Dr. Giaimo said he plans to stay involved in physician advocacy work, something that he took very seriously as a PPAC member. "I took time away from my family and practice to represent my profession with concerns that we all have."

[stevie_d_64]

Doctor...

I have this “ping”...What do you think???

;-)

[Avoiding_Sulla]

The PATRIOT Act might be used against doctors in the U. S. A. who want to set their own prices? Good gravy, the nation has gone insane.

No, not the country. It's our political parties that are unhinged from loyalty to -- well, here it is in a nutshell.

[skinkinthegrass]

Agree...
The Gulag Archipelago, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
...describes the same methodology.

[thulldud]

“You aint seen nothin yet. In 10 years we will be lucky if we have any doctors left.”

No, in ten years you’ll be lucky to find any Marxists left

We should be so lucky. The Marxists will be the only ones who can still see a doctor.