Republican and Democratic leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the latest version of a draft bill to repeal Medicare's sustainable growth-rate formula calling for a five-year period of stable payment increases as physicians transition into new payment models. But lawmakers still offered no way to offset the cost of the repeal.
Totaling 70 pages, the bill is a work in progress, as the panel's health subcommittee will mark up the legislation next week. Committee members—along with members of the House Ways and Means Committee—have worked throughout the year to craft a bill incorporating comments from more than 80 stakeholders. As before, this version of the bill gives providers the option of leaving traditional Medicare fee-for-service to try new payment models that emphasize better quality and lower costs.
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