House Energy & Commerce Committee Passes SGR Replacement Bill

On July 31, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 51-0 to pass H.R. 2810, the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013 out of committee.  The bill would repeal and replace the flawed Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.

By a voice vote, the Committee also passed an amendment to the bill that made a series of changes.

H.R. 2810 is now eligible to be considered by the full House of Representatives.  However, the bill does not include any funding mechanism or "pay-fors" to cover the cost of the SGR repeal and the new payment mechanism.

ASA previously offered support for a number of key provisions of this bill while expressing concerns about a particular provision that would remove savings from the current pool of physician payment resources through the identification of misvalued services.  Despite broad opposition from the medical community, the full committee retained the onerous provision.

Congress will be out of session during the month of August.

ASA will continue to closely monitor the bill.

Review the bill.
Review the amendment summary.
Review ASA's letter of support for bill provisions.
Review ASA's section-by-section summary of the bill.

Review past ASA's responses about the proposal:
July
June
April
February