SVS staff worked with a group of surgical society representatives to try to rescind the elimination of the Global Surgical Packages as part of the Omnibus bill that funds the government for 2015. This elimination was included in both the Calendar Year 2015 Proposed and Final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rules. There was much support for rescinding this in Congress until the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would cost $700 million over 10 years.
However, appropriations bills can have report language on issues that were not included in the legislation or further explain them, so the following was included by Rep. Harris, MD (R-MD): “The agreement is concerned that CMS has not provided opportunity for public comment on changes to surgical procedures described in the annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rules, and is concerned appropriate methodology has not been tested to ensure no negative impact on patient care, patient access, and undue administrative burdens are not placed on providers and CMS. The agreement believes additional consideration should be given to these changes prior to implementation of changes outlined in the MPFS.”
The elimination of 10-day globals would begin in 2017 and the elimination of the 90-day globals, which have a major impact on vascular surgery, would begin in 2018. SVS is already working with the new Congress to gain support for rescinding the elimination of the Global Surgical Packages in 2015 as part of Medicare legislation.
Read our letter to Congress: http://vsweb.org/Sign-onLetter.