Local doctor lobbies for patient choice act

Springfield ophthalmologist Paul N. Arnold, MD, met with U.S. Sens. Kit Bond and John Ashcroft and Rep. Roy Blunt April 23 to discuss patient provisions in managed-care plans.

A release from the American Academy of Ophthalmology said Arnold was part of a 121-member delegation from the group who "converged on the nation's capital to press legislators to extend patient protection provisions, passed last year for Medicare beneficiaries, to the rest of the American public."

These provisions, included in the Patient Choice and Access to Quality Health Care Act of 1998 (HR 3547), prohibit financial incentives that result in withholding care and provide patients access to specialists.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology and 130 other medical and consumer organizations support the bill. The group said that until its introduction, the managed care bill before Congress was the Patient Access to Responsible Care Act. The release said that legislation was the target of a negative campaign by business and managed-care interests, and had little chance of passage this year.

The new bill was touted by Arnold to the Missouri legislators as "a PARCA-light bill, smaller, less expensive and a more responsible step to solving managed care quality problems this year."