Perspective              

Regulatory Reform Advisory Committee Issues Recommendations that Reflect Insufficient Consumer Input

After almost a year of work, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform has issued their proposal to help streamline government health care regulations. Consumer representatives criticized the committee for its obvious anti-patient, pro-provider list of recommendations.

When committee members were first appointed, the Medicare Rights Center, Center for Medicare Advocacy, and other consumer groups called on Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to appoint consumer representatives to balance the committee.But of 28 committee members, only three represent consumer groups.

Both the Medicare Rights Center and the Center for Medicare Advocacy said that a number of the HHS committee's recommendations would undermine consumer protections and quality of care. These include the easing of systems designed to monitor abuse and neglect in nursing homes; allowing reduction of federal supervision of Medicare HMOs and home health agencies; and weakening laws that would make it easier for unhealthy patients to enroll in Medicare HMOs.

Toby Edelman, a lawyer for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said that a number of the committee's nursing home recommendations are contrary to federal court decisions, nursing home law, and the Bush administration's stated commitment not to weaken laws that protect nursing home residents.

Earlier this year, the Medicare Rights Center made repeated requests to Secretary Thompson to learn the basis for appointments to the HHS Committee. After six months, the Medicare Rights Center, represented by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act to get this information. The case is still pending in federal court in Washington.

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