Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A study of geographic disparities within the existing Medicare reimbursement system is under way, and U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, says it’s conclusions should benefit Iowa providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced to members of the congressional Quality Care Coalition Tuesday morning that the first of two Institute of Medicine Studies to evaluate formula options for Medicare reimbursements has been commissioned. Braley called the study an “important step in finally changing the way Medicare does business.”
“For decades, Iowa’s doctors have been punished for no reason other than geography,” Braley said. “The study announced today will finally evaluate the data and prove what we’ve known for decades: Iowa’s medical providers offer some of the best care in the nation, but have never been properly reimbursed.”
Geographic payment factors that adjust payments for both doctors and hospitals will be included in the study, which should be complete in time for the 2012 payment cycle.
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of HHS, promised Braley in writing during health care reform negotiations that two Medicare studies would be conducted by her department — one on geographic disparities and another on quality-based reimbursement. The promises were made because language previously inserted into the legislation by Braley and other members of the U.S. House did not qualify for the final bill under the Byrd Rule that governed reconciliation.
The compromised negotiated by Braley added language to the health care reform bill that provided an immediate $800 million to address geographic disparities for both doctors and hospitals, as well as written guarantees from Sebelius for further action to reform Medicare reimbursement rates that did not quality for reconciliation. The Senate bill previously only provided a Medicare reimbursement fix for doctors.
“We still have a lot of work to do, and I look forward to working closely with Secretary Sebelius to ensure we fully implement all the provisions she guaranteed during the late-night health care negotiations,” Braley said.
The House reconciliation package maintained automatic implementation of a value index as a part of the reimbursement structures for doctors, beginning in 2015. This language was secured in the Senate bill with the help of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and is based on Braley’s Medicare Payment Improvement Act, introduced in June 2009. Under the fixes secured in the Senate bill and House reconciliation package, Iowa doctors will see 5 percent increases in current Medicare reimbursement rates in both 2010 and 2011.
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