Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Become a member and receive career-enhancing benefits
Our top priority is providing value to members. Your Member Services team is here to ensure you maximize your ACS member benefits, participate in College activities, and engage with your ACS colleagues. It's all here.
Surgeons Are Prioritizing Patients amid the Corporatization of Healthcare
As a dedicated term, the definition of corporatization in healthcare continues to evolve, but it is commonly understood to refer to both the consolidation of healthcare entities into ownership by a central corporate force that guides or supersedes local autonomy, but it also can refer to the shift in the behavior of hospitals and health systems to focus on profit rather than patient care.
The evidence for an increasingly corporatized health system is clear. In 2023 alone, 65 hospitals or health systems announced transactions regarding mergers or acquisitions, and the transacted revenue totaled more than $38 billion. Set against a backdrop of nearly $5 trillion in health expenditures in the US, the business of medicine is a significant economic force.
Still, that ever-increasing financial element may give surgeons pause when considering if and how corporatization affects the practice of surgery, patients, and clinicians themselves.
Read more in “Surgeons Are Prioritizing Patients amid the Corporatization of Healthcare” from the March issue of the Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons. The article features expert perspectives from four surgeon-leaders: Ross F. Goldberg, MD, FACS, chief of perioperative services at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida; Marshall Z. Schwartz, MD, FACS, professor of surgery and urology at the Wake Forest University College of Medicine and professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Mary L. Brandt, MD, FACS, professor emeritus of surgery, pediatrics, and medical ethics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas; and Julie A. Freischlag, MD, FACS, DFSVS, chief executive officer and chief academic officer of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as the executive vice-president and chief academic officer of Advocate Health in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Other articles in the March issue include the need for more rural surgeons, opioids in surgical care, and a legendary abdominal surgery from 1809.
Leadership & Advocacy Summit Housing Deadline Has Been Extended
The ACS Leadership & Advocacy Summit is just a few weeks away, taking place at The Westin Washington, DC Downtown hotel, April 13–16. This dual meeting offers a comprehensive program designed to enhance surgeon leadership skills and provides interactive advocacy training with coordinated, in-person visits to Congressional offices.
The housing deadline has been extended until this Monday, March 18. Register today for the summit, and make sure to reserve your hotel room at the reduced rate.
Leadership Summit, April 13–14
The Leadership Summit—open to all US and international ACS members and nonmembers—kicks off Saturday evening, April 13, with a networking event, followed by a full day of programming on Sunday, April 14. ACS members may attend for free. A virtual option also is available.
Surgeon-advocates play a critical role in educating lawmakers about important healthcare issues and effecting positive change, while also broadening the ACS’s visibility and influence in Congress. Participation of ACS members at the Advocacy Summit is essential to the College’s success.
Informative and inspirational, the Advocacy Summit will connect attendees with policymakers and advocacy experts to discuss the latest developments in key healthcare policy and legislation. In-depth advocacy training, including effective tips and tactics to help communicate policy priorities on Capitol Hill and at home, along with lively panels and educational sessions, will be a part of the agenda.
Lawmakers Recognize Health Workforce Well-Being Day
The ACS has joined the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and other organizations in commemorating the inaugural Health Workforce Well-Being Day this Monday, March 18.
US Senators Roger Marshall, MD (R-KS), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a resolution in February, recognizing the “serious and widespread health care worker burnout in the United States and need to strengthen health workforce well-being.” Read the ACS letter in support of the resolution.
NAM created a “change maker” campaign to spark a national movement in support of health worker well-being and a deep commitment to making well-being a long-term value. The change maker campaign followed the 2022 passage of the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, which gives healthcare workers better access to evidence-based treatment as well as education and training on preventing stress and burnout.
The ACS is committed to fostering well-being, resilience, and work-life integration at every stage of your career, and has several well-being resources available.
Bill Protects Healthcare Providers against Costly Insurer Fees
Senators Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the No Fees for EFTs Act, which would eliminate fees associated with electronic transactions for physician services and address the growing financial and administrative burden insurance companies are forcing on physicians. The Senate bill joins companion legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last month.
Under current law, health plans are required to offer medical practices the option to receive reimbursements electronically. However, insurers impose charges on healthcare providers of up to 5% for electronic fund transfers (EFTs). These charges come at a time when physicians across the country are already struggling with mounting administrative burdens, increased practice expenses, high inflation, and falling payments for their services.
The No Fees for EFTs Act would prohibit both public and private health plans from imposing these fees, providing much-needed relief to physician practices and the patients they serve. Read the ACS letter in support of the bill.
Last week, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (HR 4366) that reverses approximately half (1.68%) of the 3.37% reduction to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule conversion factor that went into effect on January 1.
The Senate voted 75 to 22, and the House 339 to 85 to approve the $460 billion package. President Joe Biden signed the measure on Saturday. The adjusted payment levels will apply to services rendered on or after March 9 and continue through the calendar year.
In a statement, Representative Larry Bucshon, MD (R-IN), recognized that the bill “isn’t perfect,” but explained that the full payment cut could not be completely mitigated because of “budgetary constraints.” Dr. Bucshon also stated that, moving forward, there is bipartisan congressional support for ensuring providers are properly compensated for caring for seniors and for revamping this policy in the future.
Although the outcome was disappointing, the progress made was achieved because ACS Members helped the College amplify its message. More than 700 members in all 50 states answered the call to action in February when the ACS asked its members to reach out to Senators through SurgeonsVoice. Hearing from surgeons was critical to ensuring that Congress provided some relief.
The ACS will continue to fight aggressively for patient access to quality surgical care and full reform of the broken Medicare physician payment system.
