Newswise — Washington, D.C. (April 25, 2013) – The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) joined approximately 500 organizations urging Congress to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The organizations, speaking on behalf of providers, patients, consumers and healthcare industry leaders, cited the importance of protecting Medicare beneficiaries’ access to high-quality care.
The IPAB was created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and is a board of 15 unelected and largely unaccountable government bureaucrats whose primary purpose is to cut Medicare spending, a mission that will discourage the necessary long-term, structural improvements to the nation’s healthcare delivery system. In fact, by 2015, the IPAB will have the power to cut billions from the Medicare program. Moreover, the IPAB sets a dangerous precedent by implementing changes while circumventing the regular legislative process.
“Leaving Medicare payment decisions in the hands of an unelected, unaccountable governmental body who’s only goal is to arbitrarily cut Medicare spending will negatively affect timely access to quality healthcare for our patients,” said Dr. John A. Wilson, a neurosurgeon from Winston Salem, NC, and chairman of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee.
Dr. Wilson added, “Neurosurgery recognizes that we must continue to address inefficiencies in our healthcare system, but the IPAB is simply the wrong solution for addressing these budgetary challenges. The time has come for Congress to do its job by repealing the IPAB and replacing it with a workable alternative which adequately reimburses physicians and safeguards access of care to those in the Medicare program.”
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), founded in 1931, and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), founded in 1951, are the two largest scientific and educational associations for neurosurgical professionals in the world. These groups represent over 8,000 neurosurgeons worldwide. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system, including the spinal column, spinal cord, brain and peripheral nerves. For more information, please visit www.aans.org or www.cns.org or www.neurosurgeryblog.org.
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