June 20, 2014
I’ve been very busy the last few weeks, starting on May 1 at the American College of Mohs Surgery meeting, the May 16-17 AAD board of directors meeting, a May 22 American Society of Mohs Surgery meeting, a June 3 meeting in Baltimore to talk to CMS, followed by the AMA meeting June 5-10 in Chicago.
The ACMS meeting has grown to a very large audience, with more than 800 in attendance. I gave my presidential update and then spent most of my time in the hallway receiving donations for AADA SkinPac. With the additional efforts of Brent Moody, Pat Davey and Hugh Greenway, and my wife, Lana Long, we collected more than $160,000. (I am using an iPad mini with a card swiper, so beware.)
People may wonder why I am so zealous about working in this direction. It’s because the federal government is where the reimbursement battle has shifted, and we need money to advocate effectively. A small investment here has great returns for our specialty.
The board meeting agenda was jam-packed and exhausting. Of note, the board unanimously approved the development a request for proposal (request for bids) to develop a data registry and is prepared to invest heavily in this endeavor. Data will help us tell the value and quality assurance story of dermatology to those who help determine reimbursements. We must also have it to define “quality” in dermatology to those making health care policy. Without it, we will not have any parameters to report and will be stuck with truly “meaningless use” criteria. It is going to be a large investment with an even larger member benefit, and this investment is a big reason for you to support a dues increase.
The American Society of Mohs surgery was in Albuquerque, a place I had never been — a place where it rained every day. It was beautiful otherwise and I did take a day off to visit Santa Fe. Bob Durst, Paul Storrs, and I collected $42,000 for SkinPac, which on a per capita attendee basis, was more than I collected at the ACMS.
June 3 I flew to Baltimore to meet with CMS about the Medicare Advantage plan adequacy issue. Ray Welch and Howard Rogers helped me, and we presented convincing data about the gross inaccuracy of the UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans’ physician roster for dermatologists. We also demonstrated long wait times to see a dermatologist. CMS was sympathetic, but pointed out that they have not received many (or any) patient complaints. You must mobilize your patients to write, call, or email CMS complaining about UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage dropping their dermatologist and telling how it has adversely affected their health. Your patients can file a complaint with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (through their online form), by writing them at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare Beneficiary Contact Center, PO Box 39, Lawrence, KS 66044, or by calling them at 1-800-MEDICARE. Also encourage your patients to write to their senators and member of Congress to inform them of the impact the termination could have on their access to care through Medicare Advantage. I pointed out that one of the mistreated VA patients was a liver transplant recipient who had to wait more than four months to have his squamous cell skin cancer treated.
I, along with all the dermatologic surgical society presidents, wrote a letter and sent it to Lancet Oncology regarding an article that promoted that non-melanoma skin cancers should be renamed IDLE rather than cancer, and that these cancers do not need to be treated, but rather, “watched.” We refuted this assumption with scientific citations and a strong warning not to proceed with those recommendations but treat with cost-effective dermatologic care.
I flew to Chicago from Baltimore for the AMA meeting, where Jack Resneck and Cyndi Yag-Howard were running for AMA posts. I helped campaign, saw some old friends, and learned a lot. Jack and Cyndi both won their elections, which is a huge win for dermatology!
The American Academy of Dermatology 