June President's Message 

The Washington State Urology Society was well represented, once again, at the 2008 Joint Advocacy Meeting in Washington D.C. March 31- April 3. This was the third annual meeting jointly hosted by the AUA and AACU. It provided a forum in which we could meet with State and Federal legislators representing the interests of Washington Urologists voicing concerns about current legislation. In addition to concerns over the SGR and the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program, we discussed the importance of comprehensive office radiology access and the counterproductive effect of legislation limiting ownership of Ultrasound, CT, and MRI.

Last week we finally saw the proposed “fix” of the Medicare Physicians Payment reductions that were scheduled to go into effect July 1^st (10.6%) and January 1^st, 2009 (15.6%).  The proposal by Senator Baucus (D-Montana) provides for avoidance of the July cut and a 1.1% increase in 2009 scheduled reimbursements.  The cost of the legislation is borne partly by reductions in Medicare Advantage payments. Welcome news but still a frustrating reminder of the uncertainty of Medicare reimbursement that will continue until the SGR is permanently fixed.

Closer to home, we are likely to face a bill in the Washington State Legislature this coming year that mirrors a 1994 Maryland law outlawing the ownership of Ultrasound, CT, MRI, and Radiation Therapy equipment by anyone other than Radiologists, large multi specialty practices, and Hospitals.  The implications of such a law are staggering and affect both the quality and access to care for our patients. They also pose a significant financial challenge to any practice that has invested in radiology services in an attempt to provide the highest quality of care for their patients. This law has been challenged in Maryland but has cost millions in litigation fees. The WSUS will actively oppose this bill but we will need the help of all our members as we mount a statewide campaign to contact and educate our legislators on the adverse effects of this bill.

This brings me to the next major focus of the WSUS – to form a statewide network of members willing to meet with and educate local legislators and Senators.  This ambitious program – the Governmental Affairs Committee will be organized this year and has the potential to affect legislation by educating Representatives and Senators on the local impact of their votes.  Our goal is to have a minimum of one WSUS Committee member for each legislative district. 

The Washington State Urology Society has been asked to take an active role in the organization and moderation of a socioeconomic session at the Northwest Urologic Meeting in December.  Dr John Barry-President of the AUA and Jeff Kaufman-Past President of the AACU will speak on issues affecting our practices and Former Oregon Governor Dr John Kitzhaber will give a keynote speech on the Future of Medicine. We will also learn caveats of successful contract negotiations from Naya Kehayes, a professional contract negotiator.  Don’t miss this exciting and informative socioeconomic session Friday morning, December 5th at the NWUS Meeting in Portland.

Finally, please support your State Urology Society by attending the Annual meeting in Skamania June 21-23. We have arranged another outstanding and informative meeting highlighted by a daylong seminar given by George Conomikes, a nationally respected expert in Practice Management on Friday, June 20.  Trends and Healthcare regulations, ways to increase your practice revenues, and presentations addressing your future retirement are being discussed on Saturday June 21^st.  The conference will wrap up on Sunday, June 22^nd, with a coding and reimbursement boot camp presented by Mark Painter of Physician Reimbursement Systems.  The practice management seminar and the coding seminar, alone, represent a cost savings to our conference attendees of more than $500.  This years’ registration is only $100 thanks to our industry supporters.