• Health Policy and Government Relations
• Contact Congress - Take Legislative Action
• SVS Health Policy Committee Meets with Senators/Staff
• Priority Issues
• Imaging Cuts
• SAAAVE Act
• Physician Payment
• Pay For Performance (P4P)
• Fistula First Initiative
• Malpractice Reform
• Reimbursement
• Regulatory Issues
• Political Action Committee
• 110th Congress Committee Assignments

SAAAVE Passes The Senate And House As Part Of Budget Reconciliation And Is Signed By The President

The Screening Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently (SAAAVE) Act passed the full Senate as a “last minute” amendment to the Finance Committee’s budget reconciliation package in November 2005, but was not included in the House package because Medicare was not addressed. A Conference Committee met in December 2005 to compromise the differences. The Committee decided to include SAAAVE in its version, which was sent back to both chambers for a vote. The House passed the bill on December 19 followed by the Senate on December 21. However, the Senate made three changes that the House had to agree to before the bill was enacted. The House passed the bill with the changes on February 1, 2006 and President Bush signed the bill into law on February 8, 2006.

Pamela Phillips, Director of Health Policy and Government Relations, along with representatives of the National Aneurysm Alliance, met with Conference Committee members and staff to persuade them to support the inclusion of SAAAVE in the Conference Committee version of the bill and encouraged House sponsors to do the same. Representatives John Shimkus (R-IL) and Ron Lewis (R-KY) were especially helpful in this endeavor. Congressional members had also received numerous letters from SVS members in support of this legislation. Both of these efforts influenced Conference Committee members to include SAAAVE in the final version of budget reconciliation.

The final language provides AAA screening at the Welcome to Medicare physical for male-ever smokers (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation) and men and women with a family history. The national education and information campaign and standards sections were not included. The effective date for the screenings is January 1, 2007.

This legislative was supported by the National Aneurysm Alliance, a coalition of medical professional organizations, foundations, patient advocates and medical technology manufacturers dedicated to reducing the number of Americans who die needlessly each year from ruptured aortic aneurysms. SVS leads this coalition, which will work on implementation of the law this year.

SAAAVE enactment is a great victory for both vascular surgeons and their patients. This is the only new preventive benefit that was included in budget reconciliation and is estimated to cost $200 million over five years. SVS members are strongly encouraged to send letters to these Congressional members to thank them for their support.