Lawmakers to HCFA: Don't wait for us to make reforms

Flanked by representatives of dozens of healthcare provider groups, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., and ranking member Fortney (Pete) Stark, D- Calif., joined Tuesday in sending the Health Care Financing Administration a list of Medicare reforms the agency can make without new legislative authority.

"Many changes to the program that we think are necessary, such as integrating a prescription drug benefit, require legislative action," Johnson and Stark said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. "However, a number of modernizations can be made administratively. There is no reason to delay sensible changes which will make Medicare more responsive to beneficiaries and the providers that serve them, if they can be implemented immediately."

Among the recommendations in the 17-page list are some Thompson has already called for, such as implementation of a double-entry bookkeeping system and a schedule for issuing new regulations and program changes.

The list also includes streamlining cost reporting and other documentation requirements for providers and consolidating all regulatory authority for the Medicare+Choice program in a single office. Providers were quick to praise the effort.

"Caring for the nation's poor and elderly is simply not a partisan issue, and the leadership shown by Representatives Johnson and Stark is a great step forward," said Laura Thevenot, executive vice president and COO of the Federation of American Hospitals.

Said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of the American Association of Health Plans, "By working together in a bipartisan fashion to outline these recommendations for improving and streamlining the regulation and oversight of Medicare, Representatives Johnson and Stark have launched a process that we hope will lead to an environment in which Medicare--and Medicare+Choice--can thrive."

But Stark warned the industry officials--"Many of whom I haven't seen since we were in the majority," he joked--that he will need their help to ensure that HCFA gets enough money to make the called-for changes.

"These changes aren't going to happen unless HCFA gets the resources it needs to do the job," he said.