Our Holiday Packages
Sealed with RED TAPE
Tom James, MD
I
n the holiday season, we expect to find
our surroundings festooned in green
and red….and at the time we are seeing
a changing of the guard in Washington, it
is not surprising that the nation’s capital
is awash with those same seasonal hues.
There is a lot of green in Washington:
the color of money. The 2016 budget for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was nearly one trillion
dollars*. That would work out to be roughly $300,000 appropriated for every person in the country. Yes, green is a vibrant
color in Washington... and CMS contributes only one-third
of the health care dollars in the US with the rest coming from
businesses, patients and their families, states and write-offs.
Under Congressional intent, red ink is not to be used in
Medicare mailings. That is why the Sustainable Growth Rate
(SGR) formula was buried, in favor of the Medicare Access
and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Changes in Washington typically come slowly. Large organizations like CMS
have such a wide range of programs and mandates that they
behave more like the many-headed hydra of mythology than
a programmatic monolith. As such, the holiday color of red
has come to be represented by red tape.
So, boys and girls, we have come to learn that the seasonal
colors of green and red are celebrated in Washington not just
for the holidays, but all year long. HO, HO, HO.
* https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/
PerformanceBudget/Downloads/FY2016-CJ-Final.pdf
Dr. James is the chief medical officer for Baptist Health Plan
and Baptist Health Community Care.
DECEMBER 2016
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