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Legislation To Stop Impending Medicare Physician Pay Cuts
Urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to co-sponsor "The Preserving Patient Access to Physicians Act of 2005" (H.R. 2356/S. 1081). H.R. 2356/S. 1081 would prevent the impending Medicare physician payment cuts by replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). This legislation calls for Medicare to increase physician payments by at least 2.7% in 2006 and 2.6% (est.) in 2007. If Congress does not act soon, Medicare will cut physician reimbursements by 26% over the next six years – including a 4.3% cut in January 2006. To send a letter to Congress, please click the take action button below.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , As a hematologist who takes care of patients, I write to urge you to co-sponsor "The Preserving Patient Access to Physicians Act of 2005" (H.R. 2356/S. 1081). This legislation would prevent significant Medicare physician payment cuts over the next two years and instead calls for increasing the amount Medicare reimburses physicians by at least 2.7% in 2006 and 2.6% in 2007 based on recommendations of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the commission that advises Congress on Medicare policy. 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. If Congress does not pass this legislation this year, Medicare will cut reimbursement payments to physicians by 26% over the next six years, including a 4.3% cut on January 1, 2006. The impending physician payment cuts would be extremely detrimental to my practice and the patients I treat. Please co-sponsor this critical legislation.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
Senators John Kyl (R-AZ) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced legislation in the Senate (S. 1081) and Representatives Clay Shaw (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2356) to reform the Medicare payment update system through repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) spending target. Based on an outdated calculation system, current SGR payment updates to physicians have not kept pace with medical inflation. Currently, Medicare predicts a 4.3% cut for physicians in 2006 (see the ASH Web site for more information).
The bill would set Medicare's CY 2006 physician payment update at "not less than 2.7 percent." It would replace the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) methodology with a new formula for calculating physician payments in CY 2007 and beyond. The new formula, which appears to be based on recommendations made by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), would reflect changes in input prices, less a productivity adjustment. MedPAC had recommended the new formula in its March 2005 Report to Congress as a long-term solution to the problematic SGR methodology.
