Advocacy Successes
Physician Advocacy Successes
Good health policy is made with physicians in the discussion.
MSDC, working with its members, partners, and other organizations, has won major policy victories to help its members practice medicine. Below is a sampling of those victories. Do you want to be a vital part of the next policy victory helping improve the health of the District? Contact us today.
Opioid Policy
- MSDC was added to the opioid fund oversight panel by the Council in its legislation authorizing the oversight body
Scope of Practice
- MSDC supported legislation to ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and restrict the sale of electronic smoking devices.
- Working with a coalition, MSDC added funding to the DC budget to support the hiring of more license specialists to help with the delay in processing medical licenses.
Women's Health
- B24-143, to regulate certified midwives, passed the Council with MSDC's support
Health Equity
- Mayor Muriel Bowser signs into law the Electronic Medical Order for Scope of Treatment Registry Amendment Act of 2019. The eMOST Registry Amendment Act permits the creation of an electronic database of advanced directive wishes for District residents that can be tied into the health information exchange.
- Mayor Bowser signs into law the School Sunscreen Safety Temporary Amendment Act of 2019. The bill permits students to bring and apply sunscreen during the 2019-2020 school year.
- MSDC comments on the importance of funding United Medical Center (UMC) and health facilities in Wards 7 and 8 in the mayor's budget. Those comments are used almost verbatim in CM Trayon White's comments advocating for funding of United Medical Center.
Scope of Practice
- DC Health publishes draft regulations removing the 3 mandatory CME hours for HIV/AIDS awareness and replaces them with a requirement to fulfill 10% of mandatory CME hours with a topic from a public health priority list. DC Health then waived the requirement for 2020.
- The Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Act of 2020 is signed into law with MSDC support. The bill prohibits government interference in reproductive decisions between a patient and doctor, and prohibits employers from penalizing physicians for practicing reproductive medicine outside of their work hours.
- The Mayor's Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation releases its final recommendations. One recommendation is for the District to explore options to make providing health care more affordable, including financial relief for higher malpractice insurance rates.
- The Council removes "telephone" from the list of prohibited types of telemedicine to allow physicians and other providers to be reimbursed for telephone telemedicine appointments after MSDC and health community advocacy.
- MSDC worked with the Council to modify onerous language in the Health Care Reporting Amendment Act that potentially would have penalized physicians from seeking help for substance abuse or addiction issues.
Opioid/Drug Policy
- The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) waives prior authorization for key medication assisted treatments (MAT) treating substance use disorder patients in Medicaid.
- The Mayor signed into law The Access to Biosimilars Amendment Act of 2019, a top MSDC priority as it would help prescribers to prescribe more cost-effective drugs for patients.
Behavioral Health
- The Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, a major priority for MSDC and DCPA, officially becomes law. The legislation requires all health benefit plans offered by an insurance carrier to meet the federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Health Equity
- The District Council passes B22-1001, The Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Amendment Act of 2018. The bill prohibits the sale of Short Term, Limited Duration health plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) in the DC Health Benefits Exchange.
Scope of Practice
- DC joins 28 other states in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact with B22-177 becoming law. The IMLC is designed to ease physician licensure in multiple states.
Women's Health
- The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is established by law. The Committee is responsible for finding solutions to maternal health crisis in the District. District physicians are an important part of this vital committee.
- B22-106, The Defending Access to Women's Health Care Services Amendment Act, becomes law. The act requires insurers to cover health care services like breast cancer screening and STI screenings without cost-sharing.
Opioid Policy
- Right before the Council adjourned for the session, it passed B21-32, the Specialty Drug Copayment Limitation Act. The bill limits cost shifting by payers for prescription drugs.
Behavioral Health
- B21-0007 passes the Council. The Behavioral Health Coordination of Care Amendment Act of 2016 permitted the disclosing of mental health information between a mental health facility and the health professional caring for the patient.
Women's Health
- MSDC was proud to have worked on B21-20. The law requires payers to cover up to 12 months of prescription contraception, advancing women's health and equality.
MSDC President Testifies at DHCF Oversight Hearing
On Thursday, MSDC President Dr. EW Emanuel testified at the Committee on Health oversight hearing for the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, and United Medical Center.
DC Council committees hold oversight hearings for all District executive agencies as part of the budget process. The committees use the feedback from the hearings to guide budget decisions as well as craft legislation for the year.
Dr. Emanuel testified along with Dr. Sara Imershein and Dr. Connie Bohon, who represented ACOG at the hearing. Dr. Emanuel's written testimony is below.
March 4, 2021
Councilmember Vincent Gray
Chair, Committee on Health
1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Chair Gray,
Thank you for allowing me to testify today at the oversight hearing. My name is E.W. Emanuel, and I am the 2020-2021 President of the Medical Society of DC (MSDC). MSDC is the largest medical organization representing metropolitan Washington physicians in the District. We advocate on behalf of all 11,000 plus licensed physicians in the District and seek to make the District “the best place to practice medicine”.
Medicine is changing in the District and thanks to you and your colleagues, much of it is changing for the better. Your leadership helped bring to fruition the new hospital at St. Elizabeth’s campus, and MSDC is excited to have members at the facility when it opens in the coming years.
However, the public health emergency has made clear the horrendous inequities in the healthcare system. The District has near universal health coverage and world-class medical facilities, but the District still needs to ensure every resident has access to a family physician practice to ensure the best care.
I want to begin by applauding Deputy Mayor Wayne Turnage, Medicaid Director Melisa Byrd, and the entire leadership team and staff of the Department of Health Care Finance. Their work ensured that District residents had access to coverage during the public health emergency. We specifically want to thank the Department of Health Care Finance for their expansion of telemedicine reimbursement early in the public health emergency. Reimbursing visits without seeing patients in-person allowed many residents to receive necessary care.
Looking ahead, I encourage the Committee, Council, and Department to address some looming healthcare issues. We need to ensure that post-COVID we have a robust healthcare network that protects all District residents. To do this I make the following recommendations for the physician community:
1. Protect and promote local physician practices in Wards 5, 7, and 8. World class hospitals are important for the District, but residents need local physician practices to ensure their long-term wellbeing. Unfortunately, financial pressures and financial incentives from Prince George’s County make it harder for physicians to open and maintain practices in the District. A diverse payer mix plus competitive reimbursement rates for Medicare will go a long way to ensuring physicians can open community practices and treat patients where they live.
2. Allow for affiliation agreements with the new hospital. MSDC advocated for the new hospital on the campus of St. Elizabeth’s. Related to the previous point, independent practices need access to the hospital. Moving forward, the District and UHS should not prevent non-UHS or non-GW practices from signing affiliation agreements. Independent practices have agreements with other local hospitals for admitting privileges, and the new hospital should have the same.
3. Fund innovation. MSDC thanks the department for funding initiatives such as the Integrated Care Technical Assistance program that helps practices with technology concerns. We urge the Council to continue funding such initiatives to make the District an attractive place to create a physician practice.
4. Fund the Postpartum Coverage Act of 2019. MSDC agrees with ACOG that L23-132 deserves full funding in this budget to ensure postpartum benefits are fully extended to Medicaid patients.
Please reach out to the MSDC office if I or our membership can be of assistance on this or any issue. We look forward to working with you and the Committee to make the District the best place to practice medicine.
Sincerely,
EW Emanuel, MD
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