AGA congressional champion Phil Roe announces retirement

Long-term AGA congressional champion and fierce physician-community advocate Congressman Phil Roe, R-TN, announced that he will not seek re-election in the upcoming 2020 election. Following his retirement announcement, Roe communicated to AGA and fellow health care organizations that he is still committed to ensuring the success of the prior authorization bill, H.R. 3107, prior to leaving Congress.

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Roe, who was first elected to Congress in 2008 and is currently serving his sixth term, is an OBGYN by trade who practiced for thirty years prior to running for office. Roe originally ran for Congress on a platform touting his experience as a practicing physician to drive and positively impact health care policy. Upon entering Congress, he did just that — focusing his legislative attention and efforts on policies that protect patients, ease administrative burdens and protect fair reimbursements for specialty physicians. Throughout his tenure, Roe served both his constituents and his colleagues in the House of Representatives as a valued and respected leader on health care issues. He currently serves as the top-ranking Republican on the Veteran’s Affairs Committee and as co-chair of both the House Doctor’s Caucus and the Congressional Academic Medicine Caucus. His primary focus as a member of Congress has always been on health care issues — many of which include AGA’s top policy priorities.

• GI wins with Roe 
• Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Roe was an instrumental figure in the bipartisan victory to repeal the flawed Medicare physician payment formula, known as SGR, in 2015. Throughout the deliberation of SGR repeal legislation, he stayed in close contact with physician groups and actively whipped House members for support.
• Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Roe was a key ally in the fight to repeal the IPAB, which was created under the Affordable Care Act and which AGA and all of organized medicine long opposed since its sole purpose was to make budgetary cuts to Medicare if it reached a certain threshold of spending. Largely due to Roe’s leadership on this issue, the IPAB was successfully repealed after years of advocacy on the issue.

Through AGA PAC, AGA staff was afforded the opportunity to cultivate a strong working relationship over the years with Roe and his staff. While his leadership and commitment to pro-patient, pro-physician policies will be missed following his retirement from Congress, AGA staff looks forward to working with Roe through the remainder of his term on issues that impact our patients and our practice.