In response to an executive order issued Jan. 18 by President Obama aimed at reducing regulatory burdens, this April 13 the American Medical Association (AMA) issued a letter to Donald Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), summarizing the most burdensome regulations for the AMA’s members. The Jan. 18 executive order instructed federal agencies to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal regulations in order to make the agency’s regulatory program “more effective or less burdensome in achieving regulatory objectives.”
The letter to Berwick focused primarily on physicians’ issues with the Medicare program and was based upon a survey responded to by more than 2,000 physicians across various medical specialties. Unfunded federal mandates, elimination of Medicare payment for physician consultations and incompatible and inconsistent quality initiatives were atop the list of concerns.
