Portland Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer thinks it's silly to make doctors lie about talking with patients about end-of-life issues if they want to get paid for their time. As he did in 2009, Blumenauer is sponsoring a bill to reimburse doctors for advance care planning.
This time, he hopes the issue will not be sensationalized by outraged cries of "federal death panels," which were discredited, but still used as emotional ammunition against the Affordable Care Act.
Blumenauer said the A-C-A and Medicare rules place no value on end-of-life discussions between doctors and patients. The healthcare plans have no specific codes for reimbursement of physician time spent talking with patients and their families about medical options, palliative care or their wishes about aggressive life-saving measures. Medical codes provide a uniform description of procedures and services.
Without a code for end-of-life consultations, doctors must squeeze them into medical appointments ostensibly held for other purposes, meaning they must be deceitful if they want to be paid for advance care planning.
As Blumenauer put it, "Under the best circumstances, this is a difficult conversation for both doctors and families that takes time and focused attention."
The Portland Democrat hopes his new bill will get a hearing in the US House free of the uproar and rancor - the death panel accusations - that derailed his measure in 2009. He's got several Republicans among the 30 cosponsors of his bill. He said, "They know this is not about the Affordable Care Act at all, This is legislation that is supported by 90 percent of the public."
It's also possible that Blumenauer's bill will be usurped by new recommendations from the American Medical Association - recommendations about what doctors should be paid for conferring with patients about end-of-life decisions.