Save Medicare Patients from Bureaucrats

Write your Senators and Representative

As you have heard, some well-meaning bureaucrats and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are taking a wrong-headed approach to saving money that hurts patients and will in fact increase costs. The policy we must save is the in-office ancillary services exemption (IOASE) to the Stark law, which allows doctors to run their own specialized services. President Obama’s proposed budget for next year specifically recommends taking away the exemption for advanced imaging, radiation therapy, and physical therapy services.

Put simply, the IOASE makes it possible for a medicare patient to receive services like MRI and physical therapy that are higher quality, more convenient, and fully coordinated with their doctor’s wishes. Furthermore, nearly every policy making body that has studied it believes the IOASE saves money for patients and Medicare. Yet a poorly executed study by one office has had an undue influence on the President’s budget proposal. It is very important that citizens demand that Congress consider other opinions when it deliberates over whether to make the President’s budget proposal law.

Please help spread the word about this important topic. This is a rare issue in American government where politics don’t matter. Each side of this debate is trying to do the right thing. The problem is bad information. By spreading correct information to as many people as possible, you can help policymakers do the right thing.

Click to learn more about the policy debate

When you’re ready, please click the appropriate links below to send email to your senators and representative. (Use the Locate your Senators and Representative tool if you don’t know your representative.) The links will take you to email forms on their websites; members of Congress no longer make their email addresses public.

If you prefer to call or write a traditional letter, links to further contact information are available at the same links as the email forms.

Sample Email Text

Feel free to copy and paste this sample. Adding your own story of how in-office imaging or physical therapy has helped you will make it more powerful.

Dear [Rep./Sen. Name]

I am writing to bring your attention to a vital issue for health care in this country, which is threatened by a rule change buried in the federal budget currently under discussion. Please do not vote to eliminate the In Office Ancillary Services Exception (IOASE) to the Stark law, which for nearly 20 years has allowed physicians to offer imaging and physical therapy services in their offices.

Its opponents claim that it will lower costs by $1.8 billion over ten years. But instead of lowering costs, it will cost more, disrupt medical care, and erode the quality of care achieved through coordination.

* Eliminating the IOASE will not lower costs because it will drive Medicare patients into hospital-owned imaging facilities, where fees are roughly double those of private physicians’ offices.

* Elimination of the IOASE would cause significant unintended consequences, by tipping the playing field away from the small-business model of physicians’ group practices, toward the monopolistic hospital chains. These physicians might be forced to opt out of Medicare, rather than break apart their integrated practices.

* Elimination of the IOASE will greatly disrupt the medical care of millions of patients, especially Medicare patients.

In summary, elimination of the IOASE will disrupt the healthcare of millions of Medicare patients and interfere with thousands of physicians’ practices — all while raising, not lowering, the cost of healthcare for Medicare and for patients.

Sincerely,
[Your name]