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Act Now To Stop Scheduled Medicare Physician Pay Cuts
Urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to avert the scheduled Medicare payment cuts to physicians. If Congress does not take action this year, Medicare will cut physician reimbursement by 10% in January 2008, with additional cuts scheduled in following years. You can help by asking your Representative and Senators to prevent the scheduled cut in 2008 and replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. To send a letter to Congress, please click the take action button below.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , As a hematologist who takes care of people with Medicare and other patients, I write to urge you to take steps to prevent the scheduled 10% decrease to Medicare reimbursement for physicians in 2008. The impending physician payment cuts would be extremely detrimental to my practice and the patients I treat. Currently, physician payment updates are driven by a flawed formula called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Instead of the SGR, payment updates should be based on increases in practice costs. In fact, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended that Medicare payment rates for physicians' and other health professionals' services be increased by 1.7% to reflect its forecast of practice cost increases in 2008. If Congress does not pass legislation this year, Medicare will cut reimbursement payments to physicians by approximately 40% over the next nine years, including a 10% cut on January 1, 2008. These scheduled payment cuts are unsustainable and they will make it impossible for most practices to make the kinds of investment in health information technology and quality initiatives that are desired by all. Please take action to prevent these scheduled cuts to Medicare reimbursement for physicians. I urge Congress to consider applying the funds available in the Physician Assistance and Quality Initiative Fund of $1.35 billion towards the update for 2008. Using the Fund toward the 2008 payment update will not be enough to achieve MedPAC?s recommended update of 1.7%, but it will help lower the cost of congressional action to adopt this recommendation. I also call your attention to the letter sent to CMS by over 80 physician specialty societies (http://www.hematology.org/policy/testimony/042007_sgr_norwalk_signonltr.pdf), which provides further details and several options for averting the 2008 negative update to the physician fee schedule.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
Based on an outdated calculation system, current SGR payment updates to physicians have not kept pace with medical inflation. The SGR formula ties Medicare reimbursement to economic performance, although the medical needs of beneficiaries do not decrease when the economy slows. Medicare currently predicts a 10% cut for physicians in 2008, to be followed by cuts in subsequent years. Instead of the SGR, payment updates should be based on increases in practice costs. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has made recommendations to Congress for correcting the problematic SGR methodology.
