The December 1 pre-filing deadline for the 2005-2006 legislative session came less than a month after Election Day, and the Massachusetts Medical Society responded with the introduction of 11 separate bills. The legislation filed focuses primarily on improving the physician practice environment, building on gains made last year in professional liability reform and streamlined credentialing. In addition, the Society will continue its efforts as part of coalitions to expand health care access and restore adequate funding for public health. The MMS will also advocate for improved Medicaid reimbursement for physicians as part of the 2005 and 2006 state budgets.

The MMS bills reflect the Society's concerns regarding practice viability:

• Professional Liability Reform: To leverage last year's successful reduction in the prejudgment interest rate, the MMS filed comprehensive legislation that ensures continued advocacy for further reform. The initiative includes provisions that would eliminate joint and several liability, allow all collateral sources of compensation to be used in limiting jury awards to economic damages, require that expert witnesses meet rigorous qualification standards, and allow structured payments of future damages. Complementing its lobbying on Beacon Hill, the MMS is also pursuing nonlegislative solutions to the professional liability problem (see Vital Signs, November).

• Medicaid Reform: In addition to advocating for improved Medicaid payments for physicians, the Society is pursuing legislation to eliminate many of Medicaid's administrative hassles. The MMS bill addresses timely payment and recoupments and enables physicians to more appropriately bill for all medical services rendered on a single day. The bill would also give Medicaid managed care patients the same rights granted to other managed care patients under the "Patients' Bill of Rights" law.

• Managed Care Reform: The MMS continues to fight for a level playing field between physicians and insurers and for the elimination of unnecessary paperwork. The Society's legislative advocacy last year resulted in a wide-ranging voluntary agreement on uniform credentialing and re-credentialing forms and on timeliness standards. This session, the MMS is pursuing legislation to mandate those agreements and standards. Other MMS bills address insurer abuses and would provide physicians with better data for determining year-end bonuses and withholds.

The MMS will continue to work at the State House with other allied organizations to improve the health care system. Among other initiatives, the Society is deeply engaged in efforts to achieve universal access to health care for all Massachusetts residents (see related article), to restore funding cut from tobacco-control and other public health programs, and to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

You can read the text of all MMS-filed bills at www.massmed.org/pages/mms_legislation_2005.asp.

- Steve Shestakofsky