CMA Legislative Victory – Physicians Removed From Costly and Burdensome Reporting Legislation [Posted 08/18/08]
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In response to months of persistent lobbying by CMA and doctors in the author’s district, AB 2967 (Lieber), a bill which could impose unlimited data reporting requirements on health care providers, has been amended to exclude physicians and physician groups.
CMA has long supported efforts to improve medical outcomes, the stated intent of AB 2967. However, prior to being amended, the bill would have required physicians and physician groups to give to a newly created state agency as much patient data as the agency demanded. This new bureaucracy would be created despite the fact that the state already has a successful outcomes reporting program under the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
By being excluded from AB 2967, physicians and physicians groups are also saved from paying the tens of millions of dollars in costs related to the legislation. Not only would they have been forced to pay for any additional staff necessary to collect and provide the data, physicians and physician groups would have been required to pay unlimited fees to fund the state agency.
Intent language reflecting these concerns was also amended into the bill, so that any reporting requirements reflect an understanding of the financial burdens such requirements impose on physicians and physician groups.
