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Society for Vascular Surgery Joins Surgical Care Coalition: New Coalition Launched to Stop Medicare Cuts that Hurt Patients and Limit Timely Access to Surgical Care
The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) today reinforced its commitment to protecting patients, improving their quality of life and ensuring access to and choice of surgical care by announcing it joined the Surgical Care Coalition as a founding member. As part of this group, the SVS will support the coalition’s effort to work with Congress to stop planned cuts to Medicare payments that would hurt patients.
With the other 11 founding members in the coalition, the SVS wants Congress to waive Medicare’s budget neutrality requirements to prevent the cuts and require Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to apply the increased evaluation and management (E/M) adjustment to 10- and 90-day and maternity global code values. This will ensure Medicare patients continue to have the best access — to the best care — when they need it and where they need it.
Surgical Care Coalition commissioned a survey of more than 5,000 surgeons, which found that surgeons are facing serious financial distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the cuts were announced before the pandemic, with the combined impact of the planned CMS cuts and the financial distress due to COVID-19, surgeons and hospitals will face difficult decisions to keep surgical practices afloat.
“Our focus over the past several months has been to provide best practices for surgeons during COVID-19 and address concerns in providing optimal care for patients,” said Ronald Dalman, MD, incoming SVS president and the Walter C. and Elsa R. Chidester professor and chief of vascular surgery at Stanford University. “The planned cuts by the CMS create an additional layer of concern for surgeons, will reduce payments for surgical care and force surgeons to take fewer Medicare patients, leading to reduced access to care for older Americans, potentially lowering their quality of life.”
About The Society for Vascular Surgery
The Society for Vascular Surgery is the leading not-for-profit, professional medical society on establishing causes and treatments for vascular disease. SVS seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research and public awareness and is composed of specialty-trained vascular surgeons who are dedicated to providing comprehensive care for vascular disease. For more information visit www.vascular.org. Follow the SVS on Facebook @VascularHealth, Twitter @VascularSVS and Instagram @societyforvascularsurgery.
About the Surgical Care Coalition
The Surgical Care Coalition advocates for access to quality surgical care for all Americans. The Surgical Care Coalition is comprised of 12 surgical professional associations that proudly represent more than 150,000 surgeons working across the country with a common goal of improving the quality of care, and quality of life, for all patients. The founding members have met and informally worked together for nearly three decades to promote sound policy solutions to the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies to solve the biggest challenges in health care.
The Surgical Care Coalition press release can be found at the following link: https://www.surgicalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SCC_Launch_Press_Release_06182020.pdf
Founding members of the Surgical Care Coalition:
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Association of Neurological Surgeons
American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
American Society for Surgery of the Hand
American Society of Breast Surgeons
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Congress of Neurological Surgeons
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons
