Submit Your Feedback to CMS - Medicare Executive Order
Dear Membership,
As you all have likely heard, the most recent Executive Order includes recommendations for CMS to relax certain restrictions on the scope of practice of non-physician practitioners (NPPs) so as to eliminate restrictions that keep NPPs from practicing "at the top of their profession."
The AAEM EM Workforce Committee has been following these developments closely and believes this language is concerning. This Executive Order promotes the independent practice of medicine by non-physician practitioners and therefore is strongly opposed by AAEM.
We need our members to contact patientsoverpaperwork@cms.hhs.gov to express our concerns for this expansion of NPPs. Emails should be addressed to patientsoverpaperwork@cms.hhs.gov to the attention of Secretary Alex Azar and Ms. Seema Verma, Administrator CMS. Please include "Scope of Practice" as your subject line.
One example of language that can be used includes:
I am a physician in _______. I am asking you to OPPOSE the changes that would remove supervision requirements for non-physician practitioners caring for Medicare patients. The minimum non-physician practitioner (NPP) training and education is very different and a fraction of the minimum training that physicians require to become board certified in their area of expertise, and differs in many aspects. The risk of harm increases when patients are not cared for by physician-led teams.
Increasing the scope of practice by NPPs and implementing unsupervised practice will not fix the physician shortage and will not improve access to quality medical care. Furthermore, the proposed regulation changes that would allow parity of Medicare reimbursement between physicians and NPPs misleads the public as to the differences between a physician and a NPP, and is financially irresponsible of CMS.
I ask you to keep the most highly trained professional as the leader of the healthcare team and safeguard the quality of care for Medicare patients.
Sincerely,
Your Name
If you prefer, we have provided a template to send your information to CMS. You may provide your scope of practice feedback at the link below.
Sincerely,
AAEM EM Workforce Committee