The future policy of healthcare in California and the nation

“If you are not at the table… then you could be on the menu” is an astute observation for today’s organizations and individuals practicing healthcare.

Active participation and passionate discussion, input and leadership are vitally needed from physicians, medical staff leadership and associations to impact legislation and develop smart policy and influence the future of Healthcare. A healthy influence also requires physicians and healthcare executives to collaborate and navigate across the dramatically changing environment of politics, regulations and economic realities.

The California Medical Association (CMA) understands and has lived by this mission since 1856. CMA constantly monitors and implements strategies to manage threats and opportunities to the practice of medicine. This article reviews the current California Legislative session (2017-2018) and the bills that could detrimentally affect healthcare in the California and the nation.

Preventing the rise of healthcare operational costs is paramount to patients and the industry. Recent studies have suggested that physicians spend twice as much time completing administrative tasks as they do seeing patients. This is unacceptable and negatively affects delivery of care. CMA aims to lessen and streamline the administrative requirements placed on physicians so they can spend more time with patients, which improves health outcomes and increases practice profitability. An example includes:

SB 199 (Hernandez): The California Healthcare Cost, Quality and Equity Atlas
CMA helped to defeat this measure, which would have created additional administrative reporting requirements on physician practices.

Allowing physicians to practice without the threat of a frivolous lawsuit is one of CMA’s core tenets. CMA works to ensure that trial lawyers’ efforts to increase malpractice liability are beaten back, and the association opposes any effort to increase malpractice premiums. Additionally, CMA advocates to protect physicians from exposure to new areas of liability. One of the bills included:

AB 219 (Wiener) Long-term care facilities: right of residents
CMA obtained amendments to ensure that physician liability would not be increased for those practicing in long-term care facility settings acting in the best medical interests of their patients.

Critical is the defense and advocation of the physicians’ ability to negotiate fair contracts with payors. Protecting the economic viability of physician practices ensures that physicians are financially capable of providing service for patients and protects access to care. Below is a bill that was defeated:

SB 538 (Monning): Hospital contracts

CMA helped to defeat this measure because it allowed health plans and health insurers to eliminate the Provider’s Bill of Rights, which helps guard a physician’s ability to negotiate fair and reasonable contracts and break up integrated healthcare systems.

For the full report and categorical rundown of policy and legislation, view CMA’s ‘Value of Advocacy’ report covering over 20 pieces of legislation or contact Janus Norman, Senior Vice President, Centers of Government Relations and Political Operations at jnorman@cmanet.org.

Hjalmer Danielson is Senior Director of Medical Group Engagement at California Medical Association, hdanielson@cmanet.org

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars