House passes bill to stall Medicare physician payment cut for two months

Members of the House of Representatives voted 395 to 34 yesterday to approve a $636.3 billion defense appropriations bill that delays a 21.2% planned cut in Medicare physician payments until Feb. 28, 2010.

The physician payment cut was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

The American Medical Association applauded the measure, but called for a permanent reform of the Medicare physician payment formula.

“Ensuring continued access to physician care for America’s seniors is critically important, which is why Congress must fix the broken Medicare physician payment formula once and for all,” AMA President, J. James Rohack, MD, said in a press release. “The AMA acknowledges the vote in the House to temporarily suspend for two months the 21% Medicare physician payment cut that begins in three weeks, as this will allow physicians to continue to care for Medicare patients while waiting for the Senate to vote on a permanent solution.”

Major medical groups, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology and Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pursue substantial Medicare physician payment reform.

In a letter to Sen. Reid, the groups said they would accept a brief delay of the physician payment cut as a means to allow time for consideration and passage of permanent Medicare physician payment reforms.

“In the best interest of our patients, we will support a very short postponement of the imminent cuts for a period of 30 to 45 days, so that Congress has enough time to pass Medicare physician payment legislation that will be signed into law,” the groups said. “As the debate over improving our nation’s health care system continues, Congress must be mindful of its existing obligations to patients covered by the Medicare and TRICARE programs.”

The groups attributed the proposed 2010 payment cut to the postponement of previous payment reductions generated by the sustainable growth rate - a key component of annual Medicare physician payment updates.

“Because Congress has repeatedly ‘kicked the can’ to postpone imminent payment cuts to future years, we are facing impossible severe cuts,” the groups said. “At the same time, the cost of repealing a formula whose faults have been known since its inception has continued to grow, from $49 billion in 2005 to more than $200 billion today.”

In late November, the House voted 243 to 183 in favor of a bill that would permanently repeal and replace the SGR. H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009, called for the creation of a new physician reimbursement formula based on changes in the gross domestic product and adjustments for evaluation, management and preventive services.