SVS PAC Gears Up for the 2020 Elections With New Scorecard for Congressional Candidate Support

Nov 30, 2019 Re-posted from the December 2019 issue of Vascular Specialist

From the SVS PAC Committee

The SVS Political Action Committee (PAC) supports congressional candidates whose positions on health care policies are aligned with SVS and our members. SVS support for candidates who share our views is a critical tool for achieving SVS legislative and regulatory priorities, and we have identified a number of candidates who could strengthen the influence and voice of vascular surgery on Capitol Hill.

They are listed below. The SVS PAC Committee identified them after, in preparation for the 2020 campaign season, conducting a candidate selection process. The committee identified a pool of candidates representing physician members of Congress and/ or members of Congress serving on congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care issues. Each candidate was then evaluated on whether he or she co-sponsored or supported the following key SVS legislative and regulatory priorities:

Cosponsorship of Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2019 (HR 3107), legislation that reduces the burden and costs of prior authorization policies imposed by Medicare Advantage plans.

Cosponsorship of Resident Physician Shortage Act (HR 1763/S 348), legislation addressing the doctor shortage by adding 15,000 additional Medicare-supported residency slots over five years.

Cosigning onto the following four separate congressional letters addressing payment and policy concerns related to global surgical packages:

  • A 2014 Congressional letter to the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services opposing the conversion of all 10- and 90-day global procedures to 0-day global procedures beginning in 2017, put forward in the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule.
  • A 2015 Congressional sign-on letter to the House leadership supporting language that would nullify the conversion of all 10- and 90-day global procedures to 0-day global procedures in 2017 as adopted in the 2015 MPFS final rule.
  • A 2016 Congressional sign-on letter to the Administration opposing a provision in the 2017 MPFS proposed rule requiring the collection of data for all 10- and 90-day global services from all practitioners who perform these services.
  • A 2019 Congressional sign-on letter to CMS opposing a provision in the 2020 MPFS proposed rule that does not include updated adjusted values for Evaluation/Management codes in the global codes.

In evaluating senatorial candidates, the SVS PAC Committee also considered whether a senator were up for re-election in 2020. Based on these criteria, the SVS PAC Steering Committee identified the following candidates in addition to the leadership of the House and Senate health care committees for campaign funding support as we get going with the 2020 election cycle.Dr. Ami Bera (D-CA)Dr. Larry Bucshon (R-IN)Dr. Neal Dunn (R-FL)Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD)Rep. George Holding (R-NC)Dr. John Joyce (R-PA)Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA)Dr. Roger Marshall (R-KS)Rep. David McKinley (R-WV)Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)Dr. Phil Roe (R-TN)Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-CA)Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)Dr. Kim Schrier (D-WA)Dr. Jefferson Van Drew (D-NJ)Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN)Dr. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH)Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

The SVS PAC Committee invites SVS members to nominate members of Congress who are running for re-election that they believe merit SVS PAC support and would like the SVS PAC Committee to consider. The PAC Committee will review and respond to all candidate nominations received. SVS members can send candidate nominations via email to MMalek@vascularsociety.org. All nominations should include a few sentences about why the candidate is deserving of SVS PAC support.

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