05-December-2013

Congress has made progress toward repealing the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), the physician payment system some refer to as "broken," but as the end of 2013 quickly approaches, some fear another short-term fix. Next week, the Senate Finance Committee will hold an executive session to mark up a bipartisan draft proposal to repeal the SGR and replace it with a mixture of payment freezes and alternative payment models rewarding doctors for value and quality rather than volume. Creating a plan acceptable to Congress and physician groups is difficult enough, but paying for the bill's $139 billion price tag adds to fears of it not passing.

Nicholas Manetto, FaegreBDC vice president of government advocacy and consulting, was quoted in a Dec. 5 Health Leaders Media story about the possibility of repealing the SGR.

"The big issue is timing," he said. "At next week's committee meeting, [groups] will be looking to see if the bill gets bogged down with a lot of amendments that make it harder to move."