Congressman Passes "Long Over Due" Legislation To Fix Medicare Reimbursements For Physicians

Press Release

Today, Congressman Joe Courtney voted to fix the decade-old flawed Medicare reimbursement to physicians system, and repeal a 21% physician fee reduction scheduled to begin in January of 2010. With Congressman Courtney's support the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (H.R. 3961) passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 243 to 183 vote. This legislation has been strongly endorsed by both the American Medical Association (AMA) and AARP.

"Every year, I hear from Connecticut doctors who travel to Washington to advocate for a fix to the flawed Medicare physician payment formula," Rep. Courtney stated. "After a decade of short term fixes and inaction on addressing the flawed SGR formula, I am proud to say that I have listened to physicians in eastern Connecticut and fought for this long over due legislation. This bill will prevent the looming 21% cut to physician reimburses in 2010, and prevent future cuts by permanently fixing the flawed SGR. This is another necessary step towards reforming America's health care system that is long over due, and results in significant savings for physicians, patients and the American tax payer."

Click here to see a letter Rep. Courtney submitted to Chairman Stark in support of permanently fixing the SGR.

H.R. 3961 will end the temporary annual fixes to the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula that threatened physician payments and will replace this structure with a permanent and sustainable solution to support doctors, Medicare beneficiaries and military families and retirees on TRICARE. This legislation is budget neutral and will not increase the deficit as it complies with the statutory Pay-As-You-Go "PAYGO" Act, H.R. 2920.

Click here to see a joint press release issued by AARP, AMA, and the Military Officers of America (MOAA)

This bill will prevent the 21% cut in Medicare physician reimbursements calculated using the SGR formula and instead provide a Medicare Economic Index (MEI) update for 2010 which will yield a 1.2% increase in reimbursements for the year.

Click here to see a statement by AARP Senior Vice President David Sloan.

Moving beyond 2010, H.R. 3961 will create two categories of service beginning in 2011, each with its own separate target growth rate and conversion factor update for Medicare reimbursements to physicians. The first category of service would include evaluation, management, and preventive services. The second category will include all other services. The year 2009 will be established as the new baseline year for calculating expenditure targets for each of the two service categories.

In Connecticut alone the passage of this bill will prevent the loss of $210 million in 2010 for the care of participants of Medicare and TRICARE, which would've been subject to the 21% cuts set by the SGR. The new reimbursement system will save Connecticut physicians $3.3 billion over the next five years for the care of elderly and disabled patients.

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