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Contact Your Senators Now to Pass Medicare Physician Payment Legislation
Contact your Senators now and urge them to pass Medicare legislation that will restore physician payment and will provide positive updates through 2009 as soon as possible. To send a letter to your Senators, 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 pass legislation to stop the scheduled 10.6% decrease to Medicare reimbursement for physicians and to provide positive updates through 2009. The 10.6% payment cut will be extremely detrimental to my practice and the patients I treat. By providing 18 months of stable Medicare funding, the next Congress and Administration will have the opportunity to work together for a long-term fix of the Medicare reimbursement formula. The 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 do not further delay votes for legislation that will stop the scheduled cuts and that will provide stability through 2009 for Medicare reimbursement to physicians.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
Each year, Medicare calculates physician payments using a statutory formula known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR). Key factors in determining the SGR each year are:
- The estimated percentage change in fees for physician services.
- The estimated percentage change in the average number of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries.
- The estimated 10-year average annual percentage change in real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.
- The estimated percentage change in expenditures due to changes in law of regulations.
If expenditures exceed the calculated SGR, the annual update to physician payments is reduced. If expenditures are less than the target, the annual update to physician payments is increased.
The SGR is flawed and is based on an outdated calculation system.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. Instead of the SGR, payment updates should be based on increases in practice costs.
CMS published its Proposed 2008 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule on July 12, 2007 and proposed reducing physician payments by more than 10 percent in 2008. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommended that Medicare payment rates for physicians' and other health professionals' services be increased by 1.7 percent to reflect its forecast of practice cost increases in 2008.
In December, Congress and the President agreed to provide physicians with a temporary reprieve from the scheduled payment rate cut and increase Medicare physician fees by 0.5 percent until July 1, 2008. However, the legislation did not address future physician fee cuts, which means the cut will go back into effect beginning July 1 unless there is additional legislative action.
On June 12, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6331, the "Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008," by a veto-proof margin. However, on June 25, the Senate failed by one vote to pass this Medicare legislation that would have prevented the 10.6 percent physician pay cut, scheduled to begin on July 1. Due to the July 4 holiday, the soonest that the Senate will resume voting on this issue is July 7. Grassroots Advocacy is needed now to urge all Senators to pass this legislation without further delay.
