Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) news and information

Legislation that provides a permanent fix to Medicare's controversial sustainable growth-rate formula used in calculating physician reimbursement could be introduced in the Senate this year, according to a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
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What goes down, sometimes also comes back up. And that worries Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a physician representing the northwest suburbs of Dallas who co-chairs the Congressional Health Caucus and is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's health subcommittee.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley is demanding details about communications between the CMS and a consulting firm after the firm told clients the agency would be increasing Medicare Advantage payments.
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House GOP leaders released a revised proposal to replace Medicare's SGR physician payment formula with a system that includes specialty-specific performance measures.
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Medical groups need to tell their stories on how federal regulations are affecting their operations and it would be helpful if the physicians in those groups contributed financially to lobbying efforts, according to speakers at the American Medical Group Association annual conference, which ended...
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The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform has released a dozen recommendations to ultimately change how physicians are paid by public and private payers.
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The president of the American Medical Association is Dr. Jeremy Lazarus. His first name was misstated in the Feb. 18 issue (“New hope for SGR repeal”).
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Membership in many physician associations had been flat or declining in recent years, but now appears to be on the upswing. This could be the result of better times, better marketing or the fear generated by the regularly repeated threats of precipitous Medicare pay cuts.
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Outlining the work of his committee for the 113th Congress, the chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee said his panel will make efforts to overhaul the nation's entitlement programs and repeal Medicare's troublesome physician payment formula.
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Momentum is building among House leaders to draft and introduce legislation this year that would repeal Medicare's troublesome sustainable growth-rate formula used to pay physicians, but upcoming budget battles could thwart those efforts.
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