Action alert: Physician involvement needed to advance SGR repeal

Tuesday, March 04, 2014 03:03 PM

Congress has made great progress by working across party lines and across chambers to produce a joint policy framework that repeals Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula, but the deal is far from done. Congress must pass an SGR fix to avert a 24.1 percent cut that will go into effect on March 31. The American Medical Association has issued a call for action for members to urge Congress to pass the “SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014” (HR 4015/S 2000).

The AMA has praised HR 4015/S 2000, by Rep. Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), for addressing the policy provisions related to eliminating the SGR. However, the bill does not include financial offsets or extender policies, which present large hurdles to passage. CMS physician leaders will be on Capitol Hill this week meeting with the entire Colorado congressional delegation about a range of issues including the SGR repeal. Look for a report on these meetings in an upcoming issue of ASAP.

“This decade-long cycle of temporary patches to prevent steep payment cuts must end,” said AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD. This process “has cost more than $150 billion to date. That’s more than the cost of eliminating this failed policy. Clearly, repealing the SGR is the fiscally responsible way toward a higher performing Medicare program. Don’t let Congress resort to yet another patch or, even worse, a 24 percent cut to physician payments.”

March 5, 2014, is the national call to action for SGR repeal. Click here to send an e-mail to Congress now through the AMA’s Fix Medicare Now website. You can also call lawmakers through the AMA’s Physicians Grassroots Network hotline at (800) 833-6354. It’s time to repeal the SGR by passing HR 4015/S 2000.