The American College of Physicians is calling on Congress to do away with the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts called for by the Budget Control Act and to replace the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate formula.
"While we are pleased there is progress being made to improve access, reduce costs, and address physician shortages, recent and proposed cuts in federal funding for many critical health programs threaten to turn back the clock," Dr. Virginia Hood, ACP president, said at a briefing to release the organization’s State of the Nation’s Health Care 2012 report.
Dr. Virginia Hood
Dr. Hood said that, while the Affordable Care Act has gone far to improve health care, the automatic cuts called for by the Budget Control Act would negate that progress, starting in 2013.
Included in the cuts is a 2% Medicare pay cut to physicians, hospitals, and other providers. That’s on top of the impending 27.5% cut to physician fees called for by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, set to go into effect March 1.
To solve the impending crisis in Medicare physician fees, ACP advocates an SGR replacement plan that includes a 2% pay increase for primary care physicians each year for 5 years. Specialist pay would be protected from any further reductions. ACP suggests using dedicated funds no longer needed for overseas military operations to fund this interim solution. The plan also calls on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to assess new value-based payment models.
After 5 years, physicians would be required to transition to the payment model found to be most effective.
ACP is also submitting a list of questions to Republican presidential candidates and President Obama about the future of the Affordable Care Act.
Questions to Republican hopefuls include what health reform provisions they would consider maintaining and what strategies they would have to increase access to health insurance. Questions to Mr. Obama include how he would address concerns that the health reform law gives the government too much power.
Bob Doherty, ACP Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Public Policy, said at the briefing that political infighting surrounding health care is blocking progress and disheartening the American people.
"Regrettable though, a broken political culture that demands confrontation over compromise has made it impossible for congress to achieve agreements and some common sense, common ground bipartisan approaches," Mr. Doherty said. "The 2012 elections unfortunately will likely result in more inflammatory and misleading rhetorical attacks intended to fire up voters, causing even more cynicism, polarization and a lack of confidence in the ability of elected government to deal responsibly with healthcare."
Mr. Doherty said that it’s critical for Congress take immediate action to address the flawed SGR system this year.
"Congress has punted on this issue every year since 2002. It makes no sense to do that again, especially if the consequence of that is another round of deep cuts," Mr. Doherty said.
The ACP plan also outlines strategies for reducing defensive medicine costs by enacting caps on noneconomic damages and authorizing a pilot of no-fault health courts. Lastly, the plan lists strategies for promoting cost-effective, value-based care. Recommendations include creating a single deductible for Medicare Parts A and B, providing patients and clinicians with information on effectiveness of different procedures, and negotiating prescription drug prices under Medicare part D.