Healthcare Professionals Consider Impact of Court Ruling
Experts say the full impact of President Obama’s healthcare reform act is yet to be determined, and a Supreme Court ruling hasn’t done much to change that.
One thing appears clear, though: Millions of more people are expected to eligible for healthcare coverage, a fact that would seem to put new pressure on hospital resources and staff, including healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals.
The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate by a slim 5-4 majority in a ruling announced on June 28. The mandate requires Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.
“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the act will extend coverage to approximately 32 million uninsured people, or about 94% of legal residents,” according to a statement from the American Hospital Association, based in Washington, D.C. “Three elements of healthcare reform—the individual mandate, expansion of Medicaid, and the creation of state health insurance exchanges with public subsidized coverage—will help achieve this level of coverage.”
One HTM leader said this likely influx of new patients will place new demands on resources.
“I imagine that we may have an impact in our outpatient clinics related to dealing with that patient care load,” said Craig Bakuzonis, director of clinical engineering at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. “We could possibly need to add more equipment or clinics.”
Bakuzonis cautioned that it is premature to say what those equipment needs might be. “Some parts of the act do not take place until 2014,” he said.
“I’m not sure if anyone can say for sure at this point if it will impact the HTM field or not,” said Heidi Horn, vice president of clinical engineering service for SSM Integrated Health Technologies in St. Louis, MO. “There are just too many unanswered questions and variables.”
One of those variables is a part of the ruling that opened the door for states to opt-out of the new Medicaid program created under the law, which features the coverage expansion, and instead retain the old program. This could impact the number of new people covered, according to an article in The New York Times.
The ruling also caught the attention of medical device trade groups because of a tax included in the law. Next year, a 2.3% excise tax on device manufacturers will go into effect. It was included to help pay for the law and is strongly opposed by the medical device industry.
“Today’s decision adds new urgency to repealing the medical device tax so that patients and providers can continue to expect innovative devices and technologies,” Mark Leahey, president and CEO of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), a Washington, D.C. trade group, said in a statement. “While MDMA and our members still have seen no evidence or reports showing any ‘windfall’ for medical device companies as a result of the Affordable Care Act, it is clear that this misguided policy has already led to job losses and cuts to research and development.”
Posted: July 3, 2012