State Medical Societies -- Medicare funding: We need your help

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I had asked about a patient letter to give to Medicare patients discussing the SGR and why it needs to be fixed and how the current funding may impact them.Here is something sent from my state medical society -- more of a request to sign an online petition, but had a letter with it - see below.

The online petition info is below that. Locke, MD==================================Dear Patient,      Nothing is more important to doctors than giving our patients the best possible medical      

care. Our Medicare patients are very important to us, and we want to continue taking      care of you – that’s why we became doctors. The last thing we want to do is tell our      Medicare patients that we can no longer care for them.      

No matter what your opinion of the recently signed health care bill, a glaring problem      still exists. Congress has repeatedly failed to come up with a fair and sustainable      funding formula for paying physicians who treat seniors, members of the military and      

the disabled. By putting this off for more than a decade, our national lawmakers have      jeopardized Medicare and TRICARE patients’ ability to have the doctors they need      when they’re sick.      You deserve to receive the care you have been promised.      

A petition drive is underway to tell Congress to fix this unsustainable formula so      doctors can stay in the program and continue treating our patients. While it would be      more convenient for you to sign the petition here, federal medical privacy laws prevent      

us from displaying patient names in our office. Instead, we are sharing this important      information about an online petition with you.      Please make your voice heard.      Go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown/. Tell Congress to continue its      

work and to fix this problem now.      Colorado Medical Society       " Advocating excellence in the profession of medicine "      ============================================

---------- Forwarded message ----------Date: Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 11:52 AM

Subject: ASAP - 4-26-10 - Medicare funding: We need your helpTo: kelly@...

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ASAP - An Electronic Publication of the Colorado Medical Society

April 26, 2010

Review the member benefits page for CMS. These vendors help support ASAP.

IN THIS ISSUE (scroll down to read more):1. Tell Congress to Fix Medicare Funding: Join the petition drive

2. New License Verification Service

1.  Tell Congress to fix Medicare funding Join the petition drive today!

The Colorado Medical Society, component medical societies and our partners in organized medicine are launching an unprecedented effort to convince Congress to fix the flawed Medicare funding formula, and we need your help. We have joined with every state medical society in the country to collect 1 million signatures on a petition to fix the Sustainable Growth

Rate (SGR). The petitions will be presented at a joint event in Washington, D.C., in late May. Colorado physicians will then hand-deliver signatures from our state to the offices of our Congressional delegation. Here is what you can do today: 1. Add your name to the online petition by clicking here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown/

 2. Ask your patients to sign. Go to CMS' new Fix the Medicare Funding Formula website to download a " Dear Patient " letter to share with your patients. The letter explains the reasons for the petition drive and refers patients to the online petition.  3. Spread the word. Print a copy of the paper petition. Use it to collect signatures outside of your medical

practice, and ask your friends and family members to do the same. (Due to HIPAA we do not recommend using paper petitions in your office). Instructions for returning the petitions are on the bottom of the document. 4. Keep an eye out for our upcoming member poll and additional ways you can get involved. The poll, set for release in mid-May, will gather critical information about the potential consequences of Congressional inaction. The repeated failure of Congress to fix the funding formula for Medicare and TRICARE puts access to care for our seniors, members of the

military and the disabled in jeopardy. We need a rational Medicare physician payment system that automatically keeps up with the cost of running a practice and is backed by a fair, stable funding formula.Please join with us today to ensure that your voice and the voices of your patients are heard. For more information about this problem, visit our Fix the Medicare Funding Formula web page. 

 

2. New license verification service:

This is not a scam

Many physicians received an email last week from the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies about the Board of Medical Examiners outsourcing its license verification services.

This email is not a scam. To clarify: VeriDoc is a national  physician licensure verification service. Its services are only for those licensees who want to obtain licensure in another state and need to submit verification of their Colorado license to the

state in which they are applying.

A verification of your  Colorado medical license can be sent from VeriDoc to any medical or  osteopathic licensing board in the U.S.  This new service will expedite  the processing of your verifications by electronically submitting them to  other state boards in a matter of days.  Please visit VeriDoc's website at  http://veridoc.org for an overview of their services. Information on fees will be added soon.

 

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Medicare Petition.pdf