Whether their political persuasions lie left, right, or center, almost all physicians agree that something permanent needs to be done about the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used for physician reimbursement under Medicare. Unless some legislative action is taken between now and March 31, 2015, a 21 percent cut in physician Medicare reimbursements will take effect on April 1. So, is the newly constituted Congress ready and willing to act?
Not surprisingly, the answer to that question depends on whom you talk to, according to a recent MedPage Today article. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, PhD, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and current president of the American Action Forum, says “all eyes should be pointed toward 2015” for action on SGR, because the current lame-duck session is unlikely to take much action on health care. However, after the lame ducks hobble home, Holtz-Eakin predicts movement in Congress toward answering the $180 billion question: how to pay for an SGR repeal.
Caroline Pearson, vice president of the healthcare consultancy Avalere, isn’t so optimistic. “I don’t think the SGR will have a permanent fix…until after the 2016 election,” she told MedPage Today, adding that “the ‘pay-fors’ are everything.” Hoping for a Republican president to work with beginning in 2017, GOP members of Congress will fight for entitlement reform that will include an SGR fix, Pearson predicts, opining further that “an SGR fix is unlikely as a standalone [bill].”
If Congress approves another one-year “patch” of the current SGR-based system in early 2015 instead of a repeal, it will be the 18th time over 12 years that legislators have passed such temporary stopgaps. In recent years, both the AMA and the AAOS have staunchly opposed short-term “doc fixes” in favor of a once-and-for-all scrapping of the SGR.
What do you think—will Congress repeal the SGR during 2015?
Links to previous OrthoBuzz coverage of SGR:
https://orthobuzz.wpenginepowered.com/2014/02/13/bipartisan-step-forward-on-sgr-repeal/