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Obama signs doc-pay legislation

President Barack Obama has signed the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 (PDF) that delays for one year a 25% reduction in Medicare payments to physicians. The cut would have gone into effect Jan. 1, 2011.The cost of delaying the payment cut and extending the current rates for 12 months is estimated at $14.9 billion. This expense will be paid for over a 10-year period by raising caps on how much individuals and families must return if they receive overpayments from healthcare affordability tax credits.

The bill passed in the Senate on Dec. 8 and by a 490-2 vote in the House of Representatives on Dec. 9. Before the House vote, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) pledged to “sit down with stakeholders and our friends on the soon-to-be-minority side of the aisle” on a permanent solution.

On Wednesday night, the American Medical Association promised to “work closely with policymakers on a long-term solution” to Medicare physician payment problems. Congress had passed short-term payment-reduction delays six times in the past 12 months.

“The AMA commends President Obama and bipartisan leaders in the Senate and House for their commitment to a year-long delay of the 25% cut,” said AMA President Cecil Wilson in a news release.

“The AMA strongly advocated for this one-year delay to create a stable environment for seniors and their physicians. Leaving behind this year's vicious cycle of five delays was crucial to preserving health care for seniors, and it provides time for Congress to work on a long-term solution to the physician payment problem.”The AMA and other physician organizations are seeking to scrap the sustainable growth-rate formula, or SGR, that is currently used to calculate Medicare physician payments, and replace it with a formula that more accurately reflects the cost of treatment.

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20101215/NEWS/312159942/

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