Right now in Washington, President Obama and Congress are engaged in a debate about health care reform – a debate with enormous stakes for the medical profession, Americans and the future of the country.

 The American Medical Association has endorsed the House Democrats’ version of health care reform legislation, a measure that would create a public health insurance alternative and mandate coverage for most individuals and most employers.

The Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center has expressed disappointment with the bill, saying it misses an opportunity to help create higher quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, says the Mayo Clinic, it will do the opposite.

The Mayo Clinic has emerged as an important voice in the reform debate. Indeed, President Obama himself has described the Mayo Clinic as a model of how health care can be delivered more effectively.

In contrast to the AMA’s stance that we should make do with the bill because the status quo is unacceptable and this is our best shot at reform, the Mayo Clinic demands that we do better than simply extending the inefficiencies of the current Medicare model to greater numbers of people.  Rather, we need to design a system that improves patient outcomes and decreases medical errors, costs and waste.

“In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented,” the Mayo Clinic stated in a July 16 post on its Health Policy blog. “Lawmakers have failed to use a fundamental lever – a change in Medicare payment policy – to help drive necessary improvements in American health care. Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States.”

At the same time as the Mayo clinic issued its statement, Dr. Donald J. Palmisano, M.D., a leading surgeon and former president of the AMA expressed serious criticism of the House plan, saying “There’s no need to rush a bill through Congress.” Palmisano said he opposes the president’s plan because patients will no longer be able to properly contract with their doctors. “The government takeover of the practice of medicine,” according to Dr. Palmisano, “will destroy the private health insurance companies, and will result in rationing, long lines, and loss of access to physicians in the patient hour of need.”

NJ PHYSICIANS is hopeful that meaningful reform of our health care system may be close at hand but wonders why the AMA would rush to support a plan roundly criticized by its own former President, the Mayo Clinic and the Congressional Budget Office, which scored the plan as increasing the budget deficit by over 200 billion dollars. 

NJ Physicians supports meaningful, thoughtful reform that will reduce waste, increase access, and improve healthcare delivery. We have asked our legislative leaders to avoid rushing through an ill-conceived plan which could lead to increased costs, rationing, and more waste.  While time is certainly of the essence, waiting a few more months for a far better bill will enure to everyone’s best interest.

While everyone else is focused on the national picture, NJ PHYSICIANS has not lost its focus on New Jersey. Just prior to the end of the last legislative session, we helped usher in a package of bills that are designed to protect consumers and reduce costs by limiting insurance carriers’ administrative expenses, streamlining insurance claims processing, and improving the way managed care companies evaluate and rate physicians.

These bills, which NJ PHYSICIANS worked hard to advance, represent a significant step towards keeping health insurance companies honest and reducing the amount of waste in the system, and we are hopeful of seeing them passed in the next session.

Founded less than two years ago, NJ PHYSICIANS has already established itself as an important new voice for doctors in our state and a force for positive change in health care.

Today, with the stakes so high, we need an organization like NJ PHYSICIANS more than ever, an organization that is committed to keeping the focus on patients and quality where it belongs.

Thank you for your continued support.