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Senate bill delays 21% Medicare physician payment cut
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By a vote of 78 to 19, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night passed a bill that extends unemployment benefits and delays a planned 21% cut in Medicare physician payments until April 1.
The vote came after Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., agreed to end his withholding of unanimous consent that prevented the bill from being brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Sen. Bunning withheld unanimous consent on the grounds that the bill would increase the federal budget deficit without being paid for under recently-enacted pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) legislation requiring spending increases to be offset by funding.
“It comes as no surprise that Congress has delayed the 21% cut in Medicare physician payments, as failure to do so would have resulted in a serious reduction in access to primary and specialty care for our senior patients,” Richard L. Lindstrom, MD, founder and attending surgeon of Minnesota Eye Consultants and adjunct professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology, said in an interview. “In addition, many private practices would have staggered toward bankruptcy as they absorbed this massive sudden reduction in reimbursement. The real challenge is to fix the sustainable growth rate, a totally flawed governor for setting Medicare reimbursement, permanently. As it should be, this is the No. 1 priority for physicians and surgeons and the organizations that represent us in Washington.”
The House approved the measure on Feb. 25. H.R. 4691, the Temporary Extensions Act, provides for a 0% Medicare physician payment update until March 31, according to a summary of the bill. The sustainable growth rate (SGR) is a key factor in annual Medicare physician payment updates.
The American Medical Association and other medical societies support changes to the SGR or its elimination.
“While the 30-day extension provides physicians and their patients immediate relief from the 21% cut, we do not support continued short-term solutions to the SGR problem,” Catherine Cohen, American Academy of Ophthalmology vice president for governmental affairs, said. “We must have a permanent solution and stability under Medicare.”
In November, the House passed a bill that would permanently repeal and replace the SGR.