Members of Congress are getting down to work early this year on a plan to avert the 27% Medicare pay cut that will hit physicians on Jan. 1, 2014. And they are even talking about a permanent replacement for the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula used in setting Medicare physician payments.
Alicia Ault/IMNG Medical Media
Medpac chairman Glenn Hackbarth testifies about repealing the SGR.
One of the reasons this year’s repeal attempt could be different is that the price is actually going down. A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) puts the 10-year cost for freezing physician payments at current levels at $138 billion. That’s a hefty price tag, but it’s about $100 billion lower than previous estimates because of lower spending on physician services, according to the CBO.
Congress is also continuing to debate the fate of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). The 15-member panel, which has yet to be appointed, would recommend cuts to Medicare provider payments. Now bills have been dropped in both the House and Senate to strip the IPAB provision from the Affordable Care Act.
Check out this week’s Policy & Practice Podcast for more on the SGR, the IPAB, the State of the Union address, and progress on implementing state health insurance exchanges.
–Mary Ellen Schneider