Orange, California Jul 11, 2018 (Issuewire.com) - In response to recent state-level actions, the American College of Medical Scribe Specialists (ACMSS) and the American College of Clinical Documentation Outcomes (ACCDO) urge all 50 states to ensure baseline consumer access to preventive care and essential health benefits, which includes dental and vision care, and coverage that provides for preventing disease and reversing it.
On July 3 in response to a federal judge blocking his plan for overhauling the state’s Medicaid program—which included benefit reductions and a work requirement—Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin suspended dental and vision benefits for nearly half a million Medicaid recipients. Three days later, the three advocacy groups that caused the federal judge to block the original plan asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to also block the benefit cutoff.
“Our 21st century healthcare system 21st-centuryensuring citizens have basic access to not only the ability to keep themselves well, but improving on all areas of their life, moving forward, and keeping themselves out of poverty,” said ACMSS/ACCDO Executive Director Kristin Hagen. “Just as a federal minimum wage ensures a basic living wage, making health coverage affordable and accessible keeps people able to work and contribute to our nation’s prosperity. Health is wealth, and as such, healthcare is America’s future.”
ACMSS and ACCDO both support the move to empower consumers and advance care from the basics, all the way up to data-rich precision medicine that educates and informs clinicians and patients on new evidence-based integrative medicine, bringing holistic, patient-centered models of care that lead to cures. We also advocate for the Senate Bill called the “Choose Medicare Act,” Part E, which opens up a new Medicare Plan for people not currently eligible for Medicare, while including people with pre-existing conditions and preserving the 10 Essential Health Benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“The Choose Medicare Part E proposal is a prime example of an initiative to ensure all states, citizens and the federal government are working together to enable access to a stabilized healthcare system that builds on the progress we’ve made instead of taking away healthcare,” said Hagen. “ACMSS and ACCDO encourage all Americans and a bipartisan Congress to approve the Choose Medicare Act, preserving and protecting care into the future through their investment in America’s bipartisan-supported federal healthcare system.”
America has before it opportunities in motion that will elevate 21st century healthcare based upon fall cooperative agreements anticipated to be announced September 2018. MACRA will build upon these objectives and opportunities. Until that time, ACMSS and ACCDO hold firm on minimum CEHRT federal care that protects Americans, bringing affordability and new models of wellness care across all medical specialities and clinicians. Both ACMSS and ACCDO ask CMS to block this erosion of Medicaid benefits and other efforts that have been made to dismantle or weaken Americans benefits and access to evolving care, based on wellness and prevention, focused on evidence-based cures. Those entities, healthcare institutions, and clinicians that have Certified Medical Scribe Specialists onboard will be on the cutting edge of healthcare, eligible first for competitive opportunities.
About ACMSS
The American College of Medical Scribe Specialists is the nation’s only nonprofit professional society representing more than 23,000 Certified Medical Scribe Specialists in over 2,300 medical institutions. The ACMSS certification program meets current and proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) certification requirements toward use of electronic health records. ACMSS advances the needs of the medical scribe industry through certification, public advocacy, secure innovative systems design, individualized and customized consulting, tailored webinars, and continuing scribe education for improved care coordination and patient-centric care toward wellness. ACMSS works independently in compliance with CMS to meet national goals and initiatives of MACRA and its Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Certified Medical Scribe Specialists also meet the federal qualified personnel found in Meaningful Use in Certified Electronic Health Records Technology (CEHRT).
About ACCDO
The American College of Clinical Documentation Outcomes is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving healthcare non-profit entities, non-profit organizations, accredited academic institutions, and the community at large, hosting meaningful conversations with physicians, clinicians, and patients about becoming involved, and creating meaningful connections and educational materials on improving 21st century clinical care. Activities are focused on charitable contributions, research, advocacy, events, and creating new educational material focused on evidence-based care and cures. Functional nutrition and holistic care are centerpieces along with the importance of reaching both clients and patients of the healthcare system.
Please contact ACMSS Executive Director Kristin Hagen directly at info@theacmss.org or 800-987-3692 if you have any questions regarding the ACMSS and ACCDO programs and/or materials.
CONTACT: Kristin Hagen, CMSS, CPHIMS
Executive Director, American College of Medical Scribe Specialists
(800) 987-3692
Media Contact
American College of Medical Scribe Specialists, a 501(c)(6) Non-Profit Organization khagen@theacmss.org (800) 987-3692 333 City Blvd. West, Suite 1700 https://TheACMSS.org
