House to Take up Medicare Physician Payment Fix
November 6, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to begin debate on the "Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009" (H.R. 3961) this week. The bill would stop the 21 percent Medicare physician payment cut that is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2010, and would replace the SGR formula with a new payment formula
According to H.R. 3961, the SGR would be replaced with a new formula that:
Removes items such as drugs and laboratory services not paid directly to practitioners from spending targets
Allows the volume of most services to grow at the rate of gross domestic product plus one percentage point per year
Allows the volume of primary and preventive care services to grow at GDP plus two percent per year
Encourages coordinated, innovative care by allowing accountable care organizations to be responsible for their own growth paths – irrespective of reductions or increases that apply elsewhere in the system.
Phone calls from you, your colleagues and patients are needed immediately as grassroots action is critical to the passage of this bill. Please call your representative and urge a yes vote on H.R. 3961. You can quickly and easily contact your representative by using the AMA Grassroots Hotline at (800) 833-6354. And, you can also send a follow-up
