2010-03-25

Health-care overhaul legislation may have been enacted into law, but a pay cut for Medicare reimbursements to physicians still looms at the end of March. ASH and other medical societies continue to pursue a permanent fix for the Medicare physician payment system.

While the Obama administration, Senate leadership, and House leadership agree that the current Medicare physician payment formula needs to be changed, they have not been able to agree to a permanent solution to replace the statutory formula that calls for physician payment cuts. A 21 percent cut is scheduled to take effect April 1 unless lawmakers take action to stop it, and a congressional recess is scheduled to begin March 29. While it is highly unlikely the Congress would allow a pay rate cut of that magnitude to occur, lawmakers continue to wrestle with how to pay for the remedy ($250 billion over 10 years).

The House and Senate have taken up legislation providing a temporary, short-term fix to avert the April 1 payment cut. A bill (HR 4851) passed in the House of Representatives but not the Senate would postpone the cut to April 30; another measure (HR4213) passed in the Senate but not the House would delay cuts until October 1.

ASH continues to call for a permanent change in the Medicare physician payment system rather than temporary fixes. The Society is urging Congress to block the cuts and put in place a new formula that will recognize that costs increase, that there is medical inflation, and that physicians are incurring new costs related to requirements for health information systems and new technologies.

Please join ASH’s advocacy campaign to urge the House and Senate to prevent physician payment cuts and protect physician access to Medicare and TriCare beneficiaries. It is critical that all members of Congress hear from their physician constituents about the need to prevent the 21 percent Medicare payment cut scheduled to begin April 1.

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