10.6% SGR cut set for July 1: Ask Congress for positive Medicare payment updates!
Unless Congress intervenes, anesthesiology and all of medicine will see a 10.6 percent Medicare payment cut due to the Sustainable Growth Rate formula (SGR) beginning on July 1, 2008. The cut was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2008, but P.L. 110-173 offered a temporary reprieve with a six-month 0.5 percent increase.
Congress must work soon to enact meaningful legislation that will stop the Medicare payment cuts for 18 months; extend the positive 0.5 percent update through the rest of 2008; provide a positive 2009 update that accurately reflects increases in the cost of providing medical care to our nation’s seniors; and pave the way for a permanent replacement of the SGR.