ASH Meets With Senate Finance Committee Chair Baucus About Proposed Medicare Bill

April 11, 2008 – ASH, along with representatives from several medical societies, met with Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) for a discussion about his proposal to address Medicare physician payment. Senator Baucus assured the group that he is aiming for an 18-month fix to avert the scheduled Medicare payment cuts that are currently scheduled to begin on July 1. Of concern, however, is that his legislation will be proposed with "balloon financing," which means physicians would face a payment cut of 21 percent in 2010. Senator Baucus said that he would not allow the large pay cut to take place in 2010 and that next year he would address the Medicare physician pay funding mechanism more broadly. He acknowledged that it will be very difficult to pass any legislation in the current political environment and, therefore, is focusing on the most pressing issue of physician payment.

It is anticipated that his legislation would prevent the cuts until 2010 and could also increase payments by 1.1 percent. The bill would cost about $8.4 billion over five years; halting the cuts without the increase would cost about $8 billion.

Senator Baucus also stated his support of several other health-care initiatives that could also be included in his Medicare bill, such as increasing payments to primary care physicians for the purpose of encouraging new growth in this specialty, linkage of reimbursements to quality-of-care provisions such as the PQRI program, providing physicians with incentives for using electronic prescribing and electronic health records, expanding an Health and human Services (HHS) pilot project that promotes "medical homes" where physician practices coordinate care for beneficiaries in underserved areas and reforming the RVS Update Committee (RUC).

In addition to Senator Baucus’s Medicare proposal, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has also proposed legislation to prevent physician payment cuts. More information about this proposal can be found in the April 2008 ASH Practice Update.

Senator Baucus’s bill is expected to be introduced by mid-May. ASH will keep you informed of all developments.