House passes bill to stall Medicare physician payment cut for 2 months

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

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

The American Medical Association (AMA) 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 today’s vote in the House to temporarily suspend for 2 months the 21% Medicare physician payment cut that begins in 3 weeks, as this will allow physicians to continue to care for Medicare patients while waiting for the Senate to vote on a permanent solution.”

Other major medical groups, including the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Cardiology and American College of Radiation Oncology, 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 to allow time for the 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 noted in the release. “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 impossibly 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 over $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. The Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 3961) calls for a new physician reimbursement formula based on changes in the gross domestic product and adjustments for evaluation, management and preventive services.