Senate OKs bill helping Guard and Reserve doctors overseas

Eureka Reporter

The U.S. Senate has approved a bill, originally authored by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and Sam Johnson (R-Texas), that will help National Guard and Reserve physicians maintain their practices during lengthy overseas deployments.

House Resolution 2429 will temporarily exempt physicians serving in the Armed Forces overseas from a Medicare law that currently places a 60-day restriction on the amount of time a physician can fill in for a colleague who is on a leave of absence. According to a new release from Thompson's office, this limit creates serious hardship for physicians in the National Guard and Reserves who are absent from their practices for more than 60 days when they are called for active duty.

The bill passed the House of Representatives unanimously in May.

Its companion in the Senate, S. 1767, was introduced earlier this month by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

Wyden, Lott, Thompson and Johnson have also introduced legislation to make the exemption permanent for National Guard and Reserve physicians serving overseas; that exemption was included in the House health care package, HR 3162.

“When physicians are deployed, they leave behind families and jobs just like any other person in the Reserve or Guard,” Thompson stated in the release. “But they also leave behind their patients. Doctors who care for our troops overseas shouldn't have to worry that their patients and practices aren't being cared for here at home.”

Medicare currently allows physicians to enter reciprocal billing arrangements whereby replacement physicians can care for the absent physician's patients and bill Medicare accordingly. However, these arrangements cannot last longer than 60 days. After that, a second replacement must be found. Securing replacement physicians is an expensive and difficult process, especially for practices in remote and rural areas, Thompson's release points out.

Physicians who cannot secure multiple replacements during their absence can either lose their patients to other doctors or their patients must go without care.

The bill approved Tuesday suspends the 60-day cap. It has been endorsed by the American Medical Association and is supported by the Reserve Officers Association.