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WASHINGTON – By implementing a series of payment reforms now – and adopting MedPAC’s recommendations on replacing the SGR – Congress can fix the Medicare physician pay problem and come closer to paying for it, too.
That’s the bottom line of the March 2012 Report to Congress from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), released March 15.
While the recommended cuts may cause some physicians to wince, according to Mark Miller, the blow would be much harder if Congress allows the nearly 30% physician pay cut called for by the Medicare SGR Growth Rate formula to go through, Mr. Miller, MedPAC executive director, said at a press conference.
Key among those recommendations was freezing most Medicare payments to primary care physicians for 10 years and cutting specialists’ payments by 17% over 3 years, followed by a freeze for 7 years more.
"That’s hard medicine," Mr. Miller said. "But one of the things that it does is it reduces the cost of the fix."
MedPAC estimates their recommendations will bring the price tag of repealing the SGR to approximately $200 billion. To pick up another $60 billion to $65 billion in savings, the MedPAC March report lists 29 recommended program and policy changes.
Key among the changes:
- Freeze payments to skilled nursing facilities in 2013, then cut them by 4% in 2014.
- Equalize payments for office-based and hospital outpatient services.
- Modify Medicare Part D low-income subsidies to favor more generic drugs.
"The biggest reason that Congress doesn’t move forward on this issue is that it costs $300 billion. ... It’s a big cost."
WASHINGTON – By implementing a series of payment reforms now – and adopting MedPAC’s recommendations on replacing the SGR – Congress can fix the Medicare physician pay problem and come closer to paying for it, too.
That’s the bottom line of the March 2012 Report to Congress from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), released March 15.
While the recommended cuts may cause some physicians to wince, according to Mark Miller, the blow would be much harder if Congress allows the nearly 30% physician pay cut called for by the Medicare SGR Growth Rate formula to go through, Mr. Miller, MedPAC executive director, said at a press conference.
Key among those recommendations was freezing most Medicare payments to primary care physicians for 10 years and cutting specialists’ payments by 17% over 3 years, followed by a freeze for 7 years more.
"That’s hard medicine," Mr. Miller said. "But one of the things that it does is it reduces the cost of the fix."
MedPAC estimates their recommendations will bring the price tag of repealing the SGR to approximately $200 billion. To pick up another $60 billion to $65 billion in savings, the MedPAC March report lists 29 recommended program and policy changes.
Key among the changes:
- Freeze payments to skilled nursing facilities in 2013, then cut them by 4% in 2014.
- Equalize payments for office-based and hospital outpatient services.
- Modify Medicare Part D low-income subsidies to favor more generic drugs.
"The biggest reason that Congress doesn’t move forward on this issue is that it costs $300 billion. ... It’s a big cost."
WASHINGTON – By implementing a series of payment reforms now – and adopting MedPAC’s recommendations on replacing the SGR – Congress can fix the Medicare physician pay problem and come closer to paying for it, too.
That’s the bottom line of the March 2012 Report to Congress from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), released March 15.
While the recommended cuts may cause some physicians to wince, according to Mark Miller, the blow would be much harder if Congress allows the nearly 30% physician pay cut called for by the Medicare SGR Growth Rate formula to go through, Mr. Miller, MedPAC executive director, said at a press conference.
Key among those recommendations was freezing most Medicare payments to primary care physicians for 10 years and cutting specialists’ payments by 17% over 3 years, followed by a freeze for 7 years more.
"That’s hard medicine," Mr. Miller said. "But one of the things that it does is it reduces the cost of the fix."
MedPAC estimates their recommendations will bring the price tag of repealing the SGR to approximately $200 billion. To pick up another $60 billion to $65 billion in savings, the MedPAC March report lists 29 recommended program and policy changes.
Key among the changes:
- Freeze payments to skilled nursing facilities in 2013, then cut them by 4% in 2014.
- Equalize payments for office-based and hospital outpatient services.
- Modify Medicare Part D low-income subsidies to favor more generic drugs.
"The biggest reason that Congress doesn’t move forward on this issue is that it costs $300 billion. ... It’s a big cost."