It's only fitting that I redact yesterday's article about the new Medicare rules in advance care planning, as the Obama administration has officially chosen to remove the Medicare reimbursement regulation. On January 1st, the regulation went into affect as part of the administrations eye on revamped preventative care measures. Under the Medicare regulation, physicians would have been reimbursed annually for such voluntary discussions in regards to life sustaining treatments (living wills), surrogate decision makers (durable power of attorney), and palliative care.
The executive office expressed that the reason for the move was that,"the opportunity for the public to comment on it was too limited."
Naturally, the GOP will certainly call this a victory of sorts. Last summer, Sarah Palin (with the support of many party leaders) went as far to assert that such legislation would contribute towards the creation of "death panels." These words led to a spirited debate as to the intent of advanced care planning.
The Obama administration stated today that this does nothing to stop the end-of-life discussion between patients and physicians. Despite these words, the facts remain that 30% of seniors over 60 years old in the community do not have some form of advanced care planning.
About the author:
Dr. Mehdi Rais is a physician, medical lecturer, and self-proclaimed “tech nerd.” When Dr. Rais isn’t honing in on his trades, he spends his time scouring publications and the web for the latest and greatest trends in technology. Dr. Rais interests are greatly focused in the realm of mobile computing and the use of cell phone technologies in the clinical setting in an effort to increase efficiencies while reducing discernable risk. He received his Medical Doctorate from St. Christopher’s College of Medicine after spending his undergraduate years at the University of Texas at Dallas.
