The Vermont Medical Society (VMS) last weekend adopted policy resolutions that will lead to the organization tackling a number of key health care issues in the upcoming year, including reducing the rising costs of health care and preventing childhood obesity. The resolutions were approved by VMS members during the organization's 196th annual meeting held at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vt. "The policy resolutions were adopted by VMS members because they address issues that we as physicians encounter every day," said Robert Tortolani, M.D., VMS's newly elected president. "Our members wanted to take a stand on these particular issues because they strongly believe that addressing them will result in better care for our patients and help to strengthen Vermont's health care system."The resolutions will form the basis of the organization's 2010 public policy efforts on behalf of its 2,000 members. The adopted resolutions addressed:STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS - Among the remedies suggested by VMS to control the cost of health care are to reduce the burden of preventable disease, make health care delivery more efficient, reduce non-clinical health system costs that do not contribute value to patient care, and promote value-based decision-making at all levels. The resolution calls for accomplishing some of the above objectives by advocating that sources of medical research funding give priority to studies that collect both clinical and cost data and widely disseminate cost effective information to physicians and other health care decision-makers, providing refunds or other incentives to enrollees who successfully complete certain behavior modification programs, and urging the General Assembly to enact medical liability reform.PREVENTING CHILDHOOD OBESITY - VMS declares childhood obesity a major public health issue and calls upon the appropriate public and private entities to study and adopt public policies that address the impending childhood obesity crisis. Among the approaches suggested by VMS include eliminating the sales of sugared drinks and candy from all public k-12 schools, reviewing physical education requirements in public schools, establishing funding for grants that encourage innovative school-based obesity prevention programs, and studying the prevalence of "junk food" marketing directed toward children in Vermont and research and recommend potential methods of restricting or eliminating such marketing.COLLABORATING WITH THE VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ON H1N1 - As the threat of the H1N1 flu virus looms, VMS will collaborate with the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) to disseminate information on H1N1, immunization efforts, common sense hygiene techniques, physician preparedness and volunteer needs to its members through all communication avenues and in turn will report back to the department any feedback from physicians. VMS will also support its members and VDH by encouraging the medical community to participate in any VDH volunteer recruitment efforts.INCREASING THE IMMUNMIZATION RATES OF VERMONTERS - VMS calls for an increase in immunization rates in the state and encourages its members to participate in VDH's immunization program and immunization registry. Additionally, the resolution calls for collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics Vermont Chapter, Vermont Academy of Family Physicians and VDH to educate their members and the public about the importance of fully immunizing the population in order to achieve the highest immunization rates possible. PRESERVING PATIENT ACCESS TO PHYSICIANS BY REDUCING ADMINISTRATIVE BURDENS AND IMPROVING REIMBURSEMENT - To counter a growing shortage of physicians that threatens to severely limit patient access to health care, VMS advocates for public policies that improve the state's ability to recruit and retain physicians. Remedies suggested by the VMS resolution include advocating loan repayment funding, adequate public and private payer reimbursement for physicians, and calling for communicating to Vermont's federal delegation the need to ensure that health care reform legislation address Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement issues such as a national floor for Medicaid reimbursement, a Geographic Practice Cost Index floor and repair of the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula.About the Vermont Medical Society: The Vermont Medical Society is the leading voice of physicians in the state and is dedicated to advancing the practice of medicine by advocating on behalf of Vermont's doctors and the patients and communities they care for. The Society serves its 2,000 members through public policy advocacy on the state and federal levels, as well as by providing legal, administrative and educational support, producing a rich flow of news and information and offering member benefits that increase medical practice effectiveness and efficiency. For more information, visit www.VTMD.org.
Source: VTMD. Vergennes, Vt. (Oct. 3, 2009) –