AAOS Advocacy Summary

By Emanuel Haug, MD
Resident Physician
UVA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Under the #OrthoAdvocacyinAction hashtag we took on the in-district advocacy efforts with Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) of the 5th district as well as with Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) of the 6th district. This year's advocacy events have differed significantly from previous years, given the limitations set forth by the ongoing pandemic.

To compensate for the new restrictions, Andrew Mann, our Association Executive, set up a ZOOM conference call meeting. On August 17, 2020, Drs. Mark Romness and Nicole Deal from the University of Virginia Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UVA orthopaedic surgery residents, Drs. Matt Deasey and Emanuel Haug, along with Dr. Wilford Gibson, discussed several important legislative issues that affect nearly every practicing orthopaedic surgeon in the country.

Talking with Nicole Nentwich, the Legislative Assistant for Rep. Riggleman and Hallie Pence, the Legislative Assistant for Rep. Cline, we discussed HR 7059 the “Coronavirus Provider Protection Act”, which would ensure that healthcare providers practicing in good faith during the coronavirus national public health emergency be protected from COVID-19-related lawsuits. Both representatives were aware of this bill and voiced interest in supporting it. HR 7059 currently has bipartisan support in congress.

HR 7168, which is also a bill with bipartisan support, deals with creating capacity for communities in need. The Affordable Care Act currently prevents new construction of physician owned hospitals (POH), or the expansion of existing facilities by barring these facilities from participating in Medicare and Medicaid. HR 7168 would allow existing POH to expand operating rooms, procedure rooms, or beds, if construction began during the Covid-19 public health emergency. This bill is critically important in trying to ensure adequate access to meet the challenge presented by this crisis.

HR 3107 when passed, would improve seniors timely access to care by preventing unnecessary delays in care by streamlining and standardizing prior authorizations under the Medicare Advantage program. Aside from improving seniors timely access, this would also reduce the administrative burdens for us, the orthopedic surgeons. This bill was also well received by both representatives, who were not familiar with it, but willing to look into supporting it.

Lastly, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recently proposed changes to the E/M Global Codes, Add-on Code and cuts to reimbursement to total knee and hip arthoplasty. The changes to the CY 2021 would ultimately lead to a 5% cut to surgeon reimbursement and it would cut the RVUs for TKAs and THAs by 5.4%. Needless to say, the AAOS is heavily against these proposals and these proposed changes are not final yet, however, if passed they would have a significant impact on the orthopaedic community.

AAOS In District Advocacy Event

Congressman Griffith and Dr. Harris On Thursday, August 27, Ryan N. Harris, DO, VOS member, met with Congressman Griffith in his office in Christiansburg, VA. Dr. Harris, who practices with Carilion Clinic out of their New River Valley location in Christiansburg, is a constituent of the Congressman.

As part of the AAOS in district advocacy efforts that took place this summer, Dr. Harris reviewed key topics with the Congressman including HR 7059, the Coronavirus Provider Protection Act. The Congressman was very interested in all the topics presented by Dr. Harris.