Common Sense Health Care Reform to Cut Red Tape, Bureaucracy, Empower Doctors to Spend More Time with Patients 

LANSING –Michigan State Medical Society President Kenneth Elmassian, D.O., today praised the Governor Rick Snyder for signing bipartisanship legislation to cut red tape and bureaucracy in the delivery of health care. The legislation, championed by state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton) and state Representative Gail Haines (R-Waterford), came in response to calls from Michigan physicians to improve patients’ access to the best care by creating a universal prior authorization form for prescription drugs. 

“Michigan physicians and their staffs want to be in the exam room with patients, not chained to their desks sorting through hundreds of different versions of the same basic form,” said Elmassian. “Governor Snyder and lawmakers today sent a clear message to families across the state that when it comes to health care, patients come first.” 

“We join families and physicians across Michigan in applauding the Governor as well as Senator Schuitmaker, Representative Haines and lawmakers from both parties who took this critical step towards common sense health care reform that clears bureaucratic hurdles and red tape standing in the way of the best patient care.” 

The Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) for years has championed the creation of a universal prior authorization form to improve patients’ access to the best care. 

Public Acts 30 and 31 ask the Michigan’s Insurance Commissioner to create a single universal prior authorization form to replace the hundreds of different forms physicians and their staffs currently sort through every day to accomplish the same task. The overwhelmingly bipartisan reform preserves the right of insurance companies to choose which drugs they cover under each plan and is cosponsored by numerous other Republicans and Democrats. 

The Michigan State Medical Society is a professional association of more than 16,000 Michigan physicians. Its mission is to promote a health care environment which supports physicians in caring for, and enhancing the health of Michigan citizens through science, quality, and ethics in the practice of medicine. Please visit www.msms.org/ for more information. 

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