Focus on forging collaboration with Reformation Leader

A major public policy initiative of the Obama Administration is the overhaul of the nation’s health care system. The catalyst to such change will begin with legislative action in Congress; leading that shift is Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over both Medicare and Medicaid. As chair of one of the most influential committees in Congress and as the seventh-longest-serving member of the Senate, Senator Baucus has taken the helm of this major undertaking. Alongside Senator Baucus stands the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), not only to assure that the voice of pathology and laboratory medicine is heard in this debate, but, more importantly, to assure that the voice of the patient is heard.

During its December 2008 meeting, the Society’s Commission on Public Policy & Government Relations (CPP) weighed in on the Senator’s initial Health Care Reform plan, suggesting looking at the proposal from a macro perspective rather than focusing on specific details. Recently, Senator Baucus released a revised version of the initial plan. Key issues addressed included fixing the sustainable growth rate formula under Medicare, elevating the use of health information technology, prohibitions on physician self referral and the need for a plan for our nation’s future healthcare workforce, all issues that have been at the forefront of ASCP’s policy agenda. ASCP has gone through the proposal and has submitted comments specific to areas germane to the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine (ASCP voices opinion).

Another key element of the Senator’s health care reform proposal is the particular emphasis on quality and patient care. The fact that there is a huge emphasis being placed on patient care should not be of surprise. A good deal of Senator Baucus’ previous work in health care has concentrated on the welfare of the patient. This emphasis prompted ASCP to honor the Senator as one of the first recipients of the Society’s Patients’ Advocate Award.