Washington -- In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, senior House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans unveiled a plan to improve patient access to quality medical care by overhauling the systems and procedures used by the Health Care Financing Administration.

"Whether it is ending reimbursement for thousands of seniors who are incapable of self-administering their own prescription drugs, making patients wait hundreds of days before they obtain an appeal for denial of coverage, or denying patients access to the most technologically advanced services and treatments, the federal government has not kept pace with patients' needs in an evolving health care marketplace," stated the letter, signed by Reps. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., Michael Bilirakis, R-Fla., and James Greenwood, R-Pa.

"Governed by an estimated 130,000 pages of laws and regulations, many Medicare providers are spending as much time navigating their way through HCFA's complicated regulatory process as they are on patient care. We are committed to changing this system so that health care professionals can better focus on improving patients' quality of care."

The letter asked for Thompson's and HCFA's full cooperation on the project, titled "Patients First: A 21st Century Promise to Ensure Quality and Affordable Health Coverage."

"Ensuring patients' access to quality health care has long been a shared priority of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Congress," said Greenwood, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. "With chairman Tauzin's leadership, it will continue to be of paramount concern. We must restructure Medicare and HCFA simultaneously to ensure that patients come first, that providers are treated as partners and that taxpayers' interests, not bureaucrats', are the highest priority."

Tauzin's office said Thompson acknowledged receiving the letter and said he looked forward to working with the legislators on the issue.