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ASCRS, other societies urge Congress to eliminate SGR from Medicare payment formula
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The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and 50 other medical societies recently urged Congress to replace the sustainable growth rate, a key component of annual Medicare payment updates.
The groups responded to a bipartisan request from the House Energy and Commerce Committee for ideas on revamping the payment system. The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing May 5 to discuss proposals for altering or eliminating the sustainable growth rate (SGR).
Physicians face a 29.5% reduction in Medicare payments Jan. 1, 2012, unless Congress intervenes. Congress acted five times to halt the payment cut in 2010 but did not put forward any alternatives to the SGR.
"These deep cuts jeopardize the viability of many physicians' businesses and imperil Medicare beneficiaries' access to specialty care," Edward J. Holland, MD, ASCRS president, said in a letter to the committee.
Dr. Holland called for repealing the SGR and replacing it with a fair, sustainable payment formula.
"It is imperative that the system be repealed this year and replaced with a stable mechanism for updating Medicare physician payment fees to ensure continued beneficiary access to high-quality care and also to allow Medicare and the health care system to move forward with important system delivery reform," Dr. Holland said.
At the May 5 hearing, the American Medical Association and other physician groups called for repealing the SGR, implementing a stable payment formula for 5 years and launching demonstration projects designed to devise a new payment method, according to an ASCRS alert issued last week.
The ASCRS, AMA and other groups support H.R. 1700, the Medicare Patient Empowerment Act, which would enable Medicare patients and their physicians to enter into private contracts, the ASCRS alert said.
Currently, physicians must opt out of Medicare for 2 years if they enter into private contracts with patients; Medicare does not reimburse the patients. Under the proposed legislation, patients and physicians would be able to contract for services with impunity, Dr. Holland said in the letter.
"ASCRS strongly believes that Congress should empower patients to obtain medical services from the physician of their choice by adopting additional Medicare payment options in conjunction with a new physician payment system," Dr. Holland said. "This approach would provide patients with more choice of physicians, increase the number of physicians who will continue to accept Medicare patients and help preserve the Medicare program."