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Advocacy Activities
SCCM Council charged the Advocacy Committee the task of prioritizing the list of projects and initiatives contained in the Advocay Background Paper after it was presented to Council in April 2004.The Advocacy Committee reviewed the list and voted on the top five priorities that are listed below. Please click on the title to see current issues, topics or references.
- Workforce Issues
- Patient Safety / Quality
- Reimbursement Issues
- Disaster Preparedness
- Collaboration Efforts
Workforce Issues:
The Society of Critical Care Medicine, American Association of
Critical-Care Nurses, American College of Chest Physicians and American
Thoracic Society collaborated on the development of a position paper,
The Aging of the U.S. Population and Increased Need for Critical
Care Services, which addresses the workforce shortages in Intensive
Care Units and was completed in November 2001.
Following that effort, a work group was formed, called Framing
Options for Critical Care in the United States (FOCCUS). The work
group is comprised of the same four Critical Care societies, and
is chaired by Dr. Mark Kelley. This work group was charged
with writing a white paper identifying options for re-organizing
the healthcare system using the current workforce and resources.
The FOCCUS report was completed in November 2003, and provides
the background and oveview of key issues and recommends specific
actions by its parent societies. Currently, the Society and
its Critical Care partners are working to have the FOCCUS paper
published in an indexed journal, in order to bring the information
before a wider audience. Ultimately, reprints will be brought
to the attention of legislators and administration officials, as
part of a coordinated effort to improve access to quality critical
care.
The
Aging of the U.S. Population Paper
Physician
Supply Paper
Federal Action Paper
Patient Safety / Quality:
AMA Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement
The American Medical Association Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (The Consortium) was established to identify and, when necessary, develop and define performance measurement sets and quality improvement tools useful for the practicing physician.
The mission of The Consortium, is to improve patient health and safety by:
- Identifying and developing evidence-based clinical performance measures that enhance quality of patient care and that foster accountability.
- Promoting the implementation of effective and relevant clinical performance improvement activities.
- Advancing the science of clinical performance measurement and improvement.
Reimbursement Issues:
Medicare Physician Payment Issues
The Medicare Physician Payment Schedule continues to be a key issue in the health care community, and affects many members of the critical care team. The Society of Critical Care Medicine, working collaboratively with other medical societies such as the American Medical Association, makes every effort to help policy makers understand that appropriate reimbursement for the delivery of critical care is vital to ensuring the availability of trained professionals. The Society's Advocacy Committee engages in these activities in pursuit of the SCCM mission to secure the highest quality care for all critically ill patients.
To provide you, our members, with the information you may need to fully understand this and related topics, please visit the Coding and Billing resource page here, or review the general material available from the AMA Medicare reform page.
Disaster Prepardness:
Click here to link to the Society's Disaster Resources
Collaboration Efforts:
Click here for a poster presentation on Advocacy and Public Policy for the Neurointensivist by Wendy Wright, MD at the American Academy of Neurocritical Care Society in February 2005.
Click here for a Critical Connections article on the Society's recent collaboration activities.
Click here for an article titled From Revelation to Revolution: Critical Care Nurses' Emerging Roles in Public Policy written by Rebecca E. Long, MS, RN, CCRN
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