Medicare doc fix Archives - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

House May Address Doc Fix Bill This Week

Means-testing for Medicare beneficiaries.
Modest raises for doctors now and the promise of no cuts for a decade.
An extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for ten years.
These and other provisions are part of a new bill expected to move to the House this week that would eliminated the use of the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) that threatens to cut Medicare payments to doctors 21 percent beginning on April 1.
For years Congress has implemented temporary measures to prevent similar cuts but now, it appears to be serious about addressing the problem permanently by eliminating the SGR formula and introducing in its place a new payment system for doctors that pays them based on the quality rather than the quantity of care they deliver.
What’s in this latest proposal? Kaiser Health News has published an FAQ that describes the issue, the proposed solutions, and the challenges those solutions face in the coming days. See that FAQ here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-03-24T06:00:58+00:00March 24th, 2015|Medicare|Comments Off

Congress Mulls Another Medicare Doc Fix

With a March 31 deadline looming before Medicare payments to physicians are scheduled to decline more than 20 percent, it appears Congress may be considering permanent repeal of the underlying root of the problem rather than yet another short-term patch.
At the heart of the problem is the sustainable growth rate formula, or SGR, that determines how Medicare pays physicians. For years Congress has applied short-term solutions to the SGR problem and paid for those solutions with short-term spending cuts. Now it appears congressional leaders are contemplating a permanent repeal of the troublesome formula.
The cost of doing so is about $175 billion for ten years, and Congress reportedly is considering cuts in both benefits and provider payments.
Because many Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals own physician practices, this issue is very important to them.
The Wall Street Journal has taken a closer look at this matter, examining the issue, the stakes, and both the policy and the political challenges congressional negotiators now face. See its report here.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-03-17T06:00:59+00:00March 17th, 2015|Uncategorized|Comments Off

PA Congressional Delegation Seeks Medicare “Doc Fix”

Seventeen of the 18 members of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation have sent a joint, bipartisan letter to House Speaker John Boehner and minority leader Nancy Pelosi asking them make a priority of repealing – before the current session of Congress ends – the sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) used to determine how doctors are paid to serve Medicare patients.
See their letter here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-11-18T06:00:21+00:00November 18th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

The Time May Have Arrived for a Permanent “Doc Fix”

Congress appears serious about addressing a long-running problem: the need for an annual “Medicare doc fix” to address the problem stemming from the use of the sustainable growth rate formula, or SGR, to determine Medicare payments for physician services.
For years, application of the SGR called for reductions in Medicare payments to doctors, forcing Congress to apply temporary patches to the problem – and to find ways to pay for those patches.
Now, however, Congress appears intent on doing away with the SGR and fixing the problem once and for all.
But what exactly is the problem, what will it cost to fix, and how might Congress fix it? And why address it now, after years of short-term solutions? These questions and others are answered in a new Kaiser Health News FAQ, which you can find here.

PA Safety Net Admin2014-01-20T06:00:06+00:00January 20th, 2014|Uncategorized|Comments Off

Will Fiscal Cliff Deal Make Medicaid, Medicare More Vulnerable?

The relative lack of spending cuts included in the fiscal cliff/Medicare doc fix deal passed by Congress last week could increase the pressure to reduce costs in key safety-net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Or so some policy analysts believe.
Many members of Congress supported the fiscal cliff bill only reluctantly because of it lacked the bigger spending cuts they sought, the thinking goes. Now, with another fiscal cliff deadline looming on March 1, when the previously passed sequestration law takes effect, many who compromised last week will be demanding bigger cuts in exchange for their vote.
As a result, Medicare and Medicaid, two of the federal government’s fastest-growing expenses, are expected to be targets for those in search of cuts. In addition, Medicare has proven to be among the first places many officials look in their search for savings.
Any attempt to implement additional reductions in Medicaid and Medicare, beyond those already scheduled to take effect through the Affordable Care Act and last week’s fiscal cliff bill, would be especially damaging to Pennsylvania’s private safety-net hospitals.
Read more about how last week’s budget solution is far from the end of the threat to Medicare and Medicaid in this Boston Globe article .

PA Safety Net Admin2013-01-08T06:00:47+00:00January 8th, 2013|Uncategorized|Comments Off

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