Your advocacy in support of HB 273 is making a difference! This past week, the OSMA held an emergency meeting and adopted a position in support of HB 273 to stop MOC mandates.
The next important step is a hearing this coming Wednesday, October 11 at 9am in Room 121 of the Ohio Statehouse. Click here for the official hearing notice.
If you plan to testify in person, please let us know so we can put you in touch with other physicians and patients going to testify in favor of the legislation.
If you cannot attend in person, if would be a significant help if you can submit written testimony in support of HB 273. Tell the committee how MOC red tape is detrimental to you as a physician or patient in Ohio.
For additional ideas of what to submit please see our draft testimony here: https://goo.gl/Tqj5dD
You can simply copy and paste the following list of email addresses of committee members into the “to” or “bcc” line of an email:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
A brief statement might look something like this:
Testimony in Support of HB 273: Prohibit requiring physician to have maintenance of certification
Chairman Huffman, Vice Chair Gavarone, Ranking Member Antonio and members of the House Health Committee:
Please support HB 273. I am a physician practicing in Ohio and MOC requirements are unfairly taking resources away from patient care without an increase in quality. Physicians will still be required to meet thorough Continuing Medical Education standards. Ohio physicians have to complete 100 hours of CME every two years. HB 273 will NOT change this. MOC is simply an ineffective criteria for judging physician quality. HB 273 does not impair a hospital’s ability to select physicians who have met the rigorous demands needed to achieve initial board certification. In addition, hospitals receive billions of dollars of taxpayer funds every year. The Ohio legislature has a responsibility to ensure that requirements imposed on the hospital workforce are not increasing costs without any benefit to patient care and that patients retain the ability to work with the physicians of their choice.
Sincerely,
9/27/2017 – Update on HB 273 – Legislation to Stop Mandatory MOC
Dear AAPS Members and Friends,
Please take action this week to help keep this important legislation moving forward.
Here’s what you can do:
1) The Ohio State Medical Society seems to be on the fence about supporting HB 273.
Contact OSMA Executive Director Todd Baker – [email protected], and OSMA Lobbyist Tim Maglione – [email protected] and request that the society support HB 273. You can also call OSMA at 614-527-6762.
Depending on the email app you use, clicking here may open a new message using the above addresses and the below template message which you are free to edit to your satisfaction.
Dear Mr. Baker and Mr. Maglione,
I am writing to request that OSMA strongly support HB 273, legislation to protect physicians from counterproductive MOC mandates that detract from patient care without any proven benefit.
It is critical that OSMA testify in support of the bill at the legislative hearing on October 11.
No other issue unites physicians like the need to stop MOC abuses. Please do not miss this opportunity to advocate for the overwhelming majority of physicians who support these important reforms.
2) Plan to participate on October 11 in some way, whether in person or via written testimony. If you need ideas for your testimony please click here for an excellent letter from Oklahoma Rep. Mike Ritze containing some important talking points. Also there are a number of helpful links below with resources to help in crafting your comments.
Whether you plan to come in person or submit written testimony, please let us know so we can help keep track of support for HB 273.
Thank you! ~AAPS, [email protected]
9/21/2017
Your voices are being heard! However, it will take heavy lifting to keep HB 273 progressing towards the finish line; if every one pitches in we can get this done.
Please read this important update from Andrew Uxley, Legislative Aide to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Theresa Gavarone.
It explains the importance of the upcoming hearing on October 11 and how you can help out. Please plan on either coming to testify or submitting written testimony. It will be crucial to have all hands on deck for this pivotal hearing.
Thank you for your support in standing up for physicians and patients! ~AAPS
9/21/2017
From: Andrew Uxley, Legislative Aide, Rep. Gavarone
To all concerned,
I plan to send regular updates regarding HB 273 to everyone who has submitted an email or call to us in support of this bill.
First off, I want to thank everyone who reached out to your specific boards, representatives, associations and colleagues across the state. The word is getting out and that is half the battle when it comes to getting legislation through the process.
To all who may not know, Rep. Theresa Gavarone gave testimony yesterday (9/20) for House Bill 273, also known as the Patient Access Expansion Act. It was a great hearing and we received some very good feedback.
Before I jump in to to what was said in the meeting, I want to alert everyone that proponent testimony for HB 273 will take place at 9:00 AM at the Ohio Statehouse on October 11. If you would like to testify in-person for the bill, please let me know and I will assist you in completing the steps to make that happen. If you would like to provide written testimony for that hearing, please submit it to me at [email protected]. I have attached a sample piece of testimony. This is the template that all should try to model their testimony.
During the testimony there were a few questions asked that Rep. Gavarone is hoping will be addressed in testimony on October 11. A question was asked if we eliminate these requirements, what would go in its place. She was also asked as to why we are interfering with a private business and their employment practices. The last question of focus, “Is some of the reason for this, or is it used as a rationale, to make sure that as physicians get up in years that there’s some kind of check-in to be able to continue to practice medicine?” she asked. “Or is there some other system that takes that into account?”
Those are all questions that will need to be dealt with as we go forward.
Some final notes:
- An email went out from this office stating that the State Medical Board is opposed to this legislation. That was sent in error. The State Medical Board has not taken a position.
- We have received an opponent letter from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons. I have attached that as well.
- It has come to our attention that the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) has been meeting and will continue to meet with members of the Health Committee to state their concerns with the bill. They are not officially opponents as of this moment.
- We have not received an indication from the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA) regarding their stance on the bill.
Lastly, if you have not reached out to your legislator, please visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislators/find-my-legislators to do so.
Thanks again to everyone for all of your work thus far and I look forward to working with you as we go forward in this process.
Sincerely,
Andrew Uxley
Legislative Aide
Office of State Representative Theresa Gavarone
Update on HB 273 – Anti-MOC Legislation:
9/19/2017
Thank you for speaking out! We are hearing reports that your messages in support of HB 273 are getting through.
Unfortunately the other side is ramping up their lobbying in opposition to the bill.
Here’s the latest news from an ally in the legislature:
We are already facing stiff opposition from several groups.
As I’ve stated to the many physicians who have contacted this office, it is crucial that you reach out to your legislator and make your colleagues aware of this legislation AND ask them to contact their legislators. If you do not know your current legislator, you may use the this link (http://www.ohiohouse.gov/) and scroll down to the bottom left portion that will allow you to enter in your zip code.
Please help by contacting your own Ohio state legislators ASAP to educate them about the need for HB 273. Tell them that you are a physician (or patient) in their district and that you are asking them to support HB 273, a common sense bill to end counterproductive mandates and protect patients’ access to care from the physicians of their choice.
If you already know who represents you, you can quickly contact them via the following link: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislators/legislator-directory
If you don’t know who represents you, this link will get you directly to the form to find out: https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/legislators/find-my-legislators
Here are a few more resources you can share with legislators and your colleagues:
- NBPAS has developed some superb slides and handouts to share with legislators: https://nbpas.org/advocacy-center/
- AAPS has a 1-page myth-buster flier to correct some of the common misconceptions pushed by the other side: https://goo.gl/CppX2W
- The PPA talking points handout: http://www.medtees.com/content/ABMSFactSheet.pdf
Please also consider contacting the Ohio State Medical Society to encourage them to support HB 273: https://www.osma.org/Contact
And if you’re upset that the Ohio State Medical Board is opposing HB 273, please let them know: http://med.ohio.gov/ForthePublic/ContactUs.aspx
Thank you again for your help with this important initiative!
~AAPS
Action Alert:
Ask Ohio Legislators to Support HB 273
9/18/2017
Dear AAPS Members and Friends:
Please stand with your colleagues and patients in support of HB 273. It aims to help Ohio physicians focus more on their patients and less on meaningless busywork by stating that Maintenance of Certification (MOC) participation cannot be required for licensure, insurance reimbursement, or hospital privileges. As introduced, this is one of the strongest anti-MOC bills we’ve seen yet!
MOC requirements do not benefit patient care and must not block physicians from doing their job.
The bill is being heard for the first time in a public hearing by the Ohio House of Representatives Health Committee on September 20 — that is this Wednesday.
Here’s how you can help:
Email the House Health Committee members with a short/simple message along the lines of:
“Please support HB 273 and end MOC mandates on physicians that interfere with patient care.”
You can simply copy and paste the following list of email addresses into the “to” line of an email:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Click here for the full list of committee members with their email, phone, and Twitter contact info. Contacting them delivers a strong message to the legislators—they need to know you are watching the process. Ask friends and patients to call or email, to bring the perspective from the patients’ side.
AAPS is writing the committee members. You can see a draft of our letter here: https://goo.gl/Tqj5dD
Our friends at the Practicing Physicians of America have prepared a helpful fact sheet in support of HB 273: http://www.medtees.com/content/ABMSFactSheet.pdf.
Thank you for your help and please stay tuned for future updates. We hear there will be another hearing on this bill scheduled for October 11.
~AAPS
