Advocacy Articles
Updates about legislative and regulatory issues impacting the field of sleep medicine
Register today to attend the AASM Political Action Committee (AASM PAC) breakfast at SLEEP 2014 on Tuesday, June 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. The keynote speaker for this event will be Congressman Erik Paulsen (R-MN), who serves on the influential House Ways and Means Committee.
The AASM thanks our members who signed the Seniors Sleep Pledge at the recent Emerging Clinical and Business Trends in Sleep Medicine course. The Seniors Sleep Pledge is a new program that connects members with legislators to build support for Seniors Sleep 2014, a bill that would expand the "Welcome to Medicare" initial preventative visit to include sleep apnea screening.
A bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers introduced legislation (H.R.4015/ S.2000) to repeal and replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and gradually implement a value-based payment system.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the House Ways and Means Committee's bill (HR 2810) to repeal and replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula would cost $121.1 billion over 10 years. According to CBO, the estimate makes the House Ways and Means proposal less costly than the House Energy and Commerce Committee or Senate Finance Committee proposals.
Over the last several years, lawmakers have made significant changes to the way that you deliver health care to seniors, without fully understanding the financial, intellectual and physical demands of your profession. To further educate lawmakers on sleep medicine and the challenges you encounter, the AASM has created the Seniors Sleep Pledge.
State exchanges are a key component of the Affordable Care Act. To assist our members navigate the state exchange system and other key provisions in the ACA, the AASM assembled a series of online resources to help members.
Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report detailing enrollment numbers for the first three months of open enrollment in the federal- and state-run health insurance exchanges.
The Institute of Medicine assembled an expert panel that will examine the nation's growing obesity epidemic and identify effective ways to combat the problem.
In a Jan. 7 report the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary explained that health care spending grew at a rate of 3.7 percent in 2012.
On Dec. 26, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013. The new law prevents the substantial payment cuts previously expected to go into effect Jan. 1, 2014.