AMA Commits to Renewed Attacks on AOA-Backed Provider Non-Discrimination Law
After being dealt another serious defeat on Capitol Hill by optometry, the leadership of the American Medical Association (AMA) has just announced that it will launch a renewed and more focused attack on the landmark AOA-backed federal provider non-discrimination law enacted in 2010 known as the "Harkin amendment."
During a meeting of the AMA House of Delegates last month in Chicago, the national medical lobby's governing body overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for "repeal of the non-physician provider non-discrimination provision." The AMA claims to be doing so in order to "protect the primacy of the physician-patient relationship."
Through a full mobilization of its advocacy resources, the AOA has turned back similar AMA-led declarations and schemes opposing the hard-won non-discrimination safeguards that seek to assure full recognition of optometrists by health plans.
In the face of this latest attack, AOA leaders are standing firm.
"The AOA rallied as never before to become a force in the Washington, D.C., battle over health care, and now we are firmly committed to working even harder to ensure that the new federal patient access/provider non-discrimination law and other pro-access, pro-patient provisions are implemented exactly as they were intended," said AOA President Dori Carlson, O.D.
"The simple fact is that whether anti-optometry groups like it or not, millions more Americans will gain access to their local doctors of optometry because the new federal law we fought for will target the discriminatory practices of health plans," added Dr. Carlson. "But, if we have to take on and defeat organized medicine all over again on this issue, then so be it."
Other AMA documents shed light on their approach to repealing the Harkin amendment.
According to one, "AMA staff will continue to explore legislative opportunities to repeal this provision as health reform perfecting legislation is advanced."
With many proposals being put forward on Capitol Hill to amend the new health care law, the AOA will have to continue to ensure that optometry is fully engaged in the legislative process and maintains a seat at the table when key health care policy decisions are being made in the nation's capital.
With an eye on Capitol Hill, the AOA is also closely monitoring the moves of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) as it works to implement the more than 2,000 pages of the new health reform law, including AOA-backed provisions.
HHS has already begun issuing guidance materials on several sections of the new law, including preliminary regulations on how immediate reforms will apply to certain health plans.
As proposed provider non-discrimination implementation guidelines - as well as other regulations - are released, the AOA will continue fighting to ensure real-world implementation echoes the full intent of the law.
The AOA Advocacy Group also says that efforts to alter the non-discrimination law and other AOA-backed provisions will not be limited to Capitol Hill, and that is why a strong AOA regulatory presence will continue to be key.
The Non-Discrimination in Health Care provision - sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and other access to care leaders in Congress - will serve as the first-ever federal standard of provider non-discrimination. Starting in 2014, the new law will bar health insurers from discriminating in terms of plan coverage and participation against ODs and other providers.
Health insurance plans - including a number of large employer-sponsored programs organized under the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) as well as other types of health plans - in many instances have made it policy to summarily deny coverage for the services of qualified health care providers as a cost containment measure, the AOA Advocacy Group says.
Although supported by the AOA and ODs and optometry students as the centerpiece of optometry's proactive, pro-access and pro-patient federal advocacy agenda, the AOA-backed non-discrimination provision was opposed by organized medicine and the health insurance industry at each step of the nearly two-year battle in Washington, D.C., over health care.