Plans for medical professionals to be reimbursed for consultation with Medicare beneficiaries based on whether they want to be kept alive, and how they should be taken care of, when they become too sick to make their own decisions; was announced by the federal government on Wednesday.
The government can begin the implementation of it by the start of next year if approved; which experts believe will eventually happen. The Medicare plan will be open for public opinion for 60 days. If it is approved, the proposal is expected to address issues raised by concerned groups before the Affordable Care Act was passed in Congress. Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and Republican candidate for vice president, believes it is equivalent to creating “death panels,” which could prevent the sick from receiving much needed care.
According to the government, this plan was in response to requests from patients and healthcare providers about giving people with more freedom to decide how they wish to die. This may involve, discontinue receiving life support if they do not wish to be kept alive by feeding tubes and ventilators, or the right to choose whether to exhaust all available medical options in order to be kept alive.
Dr. Patrick Conway, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), suggested that these kinds of discussions are vital to providing care for both patients and their families. He believes that this plan will help provide better information to patients and families about advanced care with their doctors and healthcare providers. He informed that they will be able to take the final decision by 1st Nov regarding this proposal.
Qualified medical professionals, physician assistants, nurses, and doctors will be remunerated for conducting the face-to-face consultations with patients, their relatives, or with caregivers the patients have allowed into their meetings, as planned by the government.
Dr.Patrick believes that the length of these conversations may vary based on the needs of the patient. He says that sometimes the conversations will be long, sometimes it will require few conversations, and sometimes if the patient has thought about it, the discussion will be short.
Although, the Medicare proposal has already received support from leading medical organizations; the National Right to Life Committee challenges this proposal as, they feel it could result in pressuring patients to forgo receiving treatment. The proposal also, does not state any limits to the number of consultations that will be reimbursed by the government.
