From the Washington Office: Gratifying success for ACS legislative advocacy efforts

• An additional 4 years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), bringing the reauthorization period to a total of 10 years. ACS has consistently advocated and aggressively pursued reauthorization of CHIP every time reauthorization was necessary. During the most recent negotiations, following expiration of funding in September 2017, the ACS advocated for the longest possible period of reauthorization of funds.

• Full repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), included as part of the Affordable Care Act. Though members of the board were never appointed, the ACS has fought to eliminate this advisory board of unelected bureaucrats who had the power to cut physician payment since 2010.

• Additional funding to address both the opioid epidemic and to support the work of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ACS has long supported funding to fight cancer and has been proactive in its response to the national crisis of opioid abuse and misuse.

• Lastly, as mentioned above, the ACS strongly opposed language in the version of the bill passed by the House that would have allowed the use of the “Misvalued Codes” as part of the “pay-for” or offset for the legislation. The ACS anticipated that this language would have unfairly resulted in significant cuts to surgeons and we were pleased that this language was not included in the version ultimately agreed to and signed into law by President Trump. We sincerely hope that this ends the use of this flawed policy.

To have this many policy priorities enacted through one legislative package is a rare occurrence for any organization and accordingly is most gratifying. The emails and phone calls delivered by Fellows during the week of February 5, in combination with the work of staff here in Washington DC, no doubt played a significant role in securing these priorities. However, the work is not done and the ACS will continue to fight for improvements to issues facing surgeons and surgical patients.

We urge all Fellows to continue participating in these efforts.

Until next month ….