Michael Burgess, MD
ASCO presented Representative Michael Burgess, MD (TX-26) with the Society’s first-ever ASCO Congressional Leadership Award to recognize his steadfast work to advance policies that support cancer research and treatment. This new, annual award honors a Member of Congress who is a dedicated champion for patients and survivors of cancer, their families, and health-care teams.
ASCO President Daniel Hayes, MD, FACP, FASCO, presented the award to Rep. Burgess during ASCO’s Advocacy Summit last month, where ASCO volunteers from across the United States came to Capitol Hill to educate lawmakers about critical issues affecting patients with cancer and their providers.
“Dr. Burgess is a tireless advocate for high-quality, high-value health-care,” said Dr. Hayes. “We can think of no one else more worthy of this award and no one who we would be more proud to deliver this honor to for the very first time.”
Rep. Burgess was a leader in repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for reimbursing physicians and passing the Medicare Access and CHIP Reimbursement Act (MACRA) to replace the SGR. This landmark accomplishment marked a pivotal moment in improving access and quality of care for older Americans and creating a more stable reimbursement environment for health-care providers.
“Thank you for this honorable recognition,” said Rep. Burgess. “More important, thank you for all you do as doctors on behalf of the millions of Americans living with cancer and their families. Your work, and having your voice heard on Capitol Hill, is critical to ensuring high- quality cancer care across our country.”
In addition to his work to improve health-care access and reimbursement, Rep. Burgess has also been an important advocate for the 21st Century Cures Act, legislation that would advance initiatives related to interoperability, big data, and precision medicine to spur development of promising new treatments for people living with cancer. Rep. Burgess also introduced legislation (H.R. 293) to protect continuing medical education by clarifying that peer-reviewed journals, medical textbooks, and other medical education texts should be excluded from reporting requirements under the Sunshine Act. ■
© 2016. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.
