CHICAGO – Other than a brief amendment related to the 3-day rule, the American Medical Association House of Delegates adopted via voice vote a series of reference committee recommendations related to medical service and health system reform.
The lone item that came up for discussion during the June 9 vote at the AMA HOD annual meeting was related to the 3-day rule. The reference committee had substituted language of two separate resolutions and combined it into one, with two provisions: that the AMA “continue to advocate that Congress eliminate the 3-day hospital inpatient requirement for Medicare coverage of posthospital skilled nursing facility services, and educate Congress on the impact of this requirement on patients,” and that the association continue to advocate for the start of the timing clock toward meeting the 3-day rule being when the person enters the hospital or the emergency department or when under an observational status.
During the full-house session, a third resolution was added that the AMA work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to eliminate any regulations requiring inpatient hospitalization as a prerequisite for a Medicare patient’s being eligible for skilled nursing facility or long-term care placement, language resurrected from one of the two earlier resolutions.
Other adopted resolutions cover a wide range of topics, including the high price of generic drugs, vasectomy coverage, end-of-life counseling, and understanding the effects of Medicaid expansion.
Various separate resolutions related to the high cost of generic drugs were rolled into one final resolution that calls for a number of actions.
First, it calls on the AMA to work collaboratively with Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, and other relevant stakeholders to promote policies that address the rising cost of generic drugs. The resolution calls on the AMA to seek a legislative solution to ensure fair generic drug pricing and to educate Congress on the adverse effects of high generic drug pricing.
On Medicaid expansion, the house instructed the AMA to understand the level of health care access due to expansion, the quality of health care delivered, the adequacy of provider payments, and the effects of Medicaid expansion as a whole.
Delegates also adopted a resolution asking the AMA to encourage all private and public payers to reimburse for advanced care planning.
On contraception, the AMA was directed to work with national state and medical specialty societies “to advocate for patient access to the full continuum of evidence-based contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures, including vasectomy and male contraceptive counseling, to promote gender equality in contraceptive services under the ACA.”
With the move to alternate payment models that pay for value and outcomes, the AMA received direction to help practicing physicians with guidance and other assistance to help in the transition.