Nevada Cancer Institute “rifle shot” doesn’t strike health reform bill

An amendment that would have helped the Nevada Cancer Institute broaden its offerings didn't make its way into the senate's version of health reform legislation, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In September Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and Robert Menendez of New Jersey sought to include an amendment that would have altered the way Medicare reimburses Nevada Cancer Institute and three similar facilities.

The amendment was reported in the New York Times as a "rifle shot" amendment, a name given to legislation narrowly tailored to a very specific issue.

The amendment would have allowed the institutes covered to be reimbursed based on the actual cost of treating Medicare patients, as opposed to applying pre-set reimbursements.

Adding the Nevada Cancer Institute to the exemption program, which has existed for decades, would have allowed the nonprofit center to put more money back into research and care, spokeswoman Jennifer McDonnell said. The exemption is needed because the institute treats only cancer patients and does not have revenue streams typical hospitals use to recoup costs, she said.

McDonnell said Nevada Cancer Institute CEO John Ruckdeschel and former CEO Sandra Murdock worked with the office of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to include Nevada Cancer Institute in the amendment.

But the effort wasn't enough to get formal consideration for the amendment by Senate Finance Committee, McDonnell said. It wasn't included in the reform bill that got 60 votes early Monday.

The institute will continue to seek support for what's known as a prospective payment system, or PPS, exemption.

Such an exemption "is critical to its being able to expand and financial sustain the types and level of oncology services needed in the state of Nevada," McDonnell said via e-mail.