SGR Cut Averted Until December 31

President Obama signed H.R. 5712, the Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010. The legislation, passed by the House and previously passed by the U.S. Senate prior to the Thanksgiving recess, averts a scheduled 23 percent Medicare physician payment cut that would have taken effect on November 30. The cut has been averted until December 31, 2010. Bipartisan and bicameral meetings are expected to continue in an effort to find agreement on a long term proposal to address the pending Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) mandated cut. 

ASA continues to support permanent repeal and replacement of the SGR formula with a payment system that accurately reflects the costs of providing care. Short of full repeal, ASA supports proposals that 1) provide for appropriate payment updates; 2) do not exacerbate projected future payment cuts; and 3) begin to address the magnitude of the projected payment cuts – the “SGR debt.”

House Majority Leader Hoyer Statement on Passage of Medicare Physician Payment Rate Extension