WMS Advocacy Update - Federal and State Progress on Important Issues

State Advocacy

WMS is gearing up for the 61st legislative session and is eager to represent physicians and physician assistants as lawmakers consider and debate important legislation that impacts healthcare delivery in Wyoming. A few of the topics hot on this year’s agenda include:

Truth in Advertising

WMS, with help from individual members and our national society partners, is pursuing Truth in Advertising (TIA) legislation this session. This legislation seeks to improve consumer protection laws as they pertain to healthcare in Wyoming. We are all seeing the trend for health professionals to seek doctoral degrees rather than master’s level degrees. While WMS believes the desire for additional education is commendable it does present a problem for consumers of healthcare as they navigate the system. The potential to have everyone in a health facility hold doctoral degrees in varying professions presents a critical need for increased transparency.

To ensure patients know what kind of “doctor” is providing their care, the WMS TIA legislation requires all healthcare professionals to clearly and accurately identify themselves with required name tags as well as in all writings, advertisements, and other communications. While some may consider the ID requirement an imposition, it is important to note that patients encounter many types of healthcare providers and they deserve to know who is providing their care, be it a medical doctor, a physician assistant or an advanced practice nurse.

In addition to Truth in Advertising legislation, WMS lobbyists will be working to reach compromise with nurse practitioners who desire full privileges at Wyoming hospitals. Also of interest will be bills regarding state health exchanges, the healthy frontiers pilot project, health reform constitutionality, telemedicine, reimbursement rates and much more. Stay tuned for regular electronic updates throughout this year’s session.

Federal Advocacy

Congress recently approved the “Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010” in a bipartisan effort to stabilize Medicare physician payments at current rates for the next 13 months. WMS recognizes this is not the permanent fix we were hoping for, however it does guarantee consistency in payment through the 2011 calendar year.

Congress also recently passed the “Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010” stating that physicians are not creditors and should not have to comply with the Federal Trade Commission’s “red flags” rule. WMS is hopeful that once signed by President Obama the FTC will withdraw its assertion that the red flags rule applies to physicians.

This is an exciting time of year for physician and physician assistant advocacy in Wyoming. Please be sure that we have accurate email contact information for you so you can remain informed of all that WMS is doing on your behalf!