SENATE PASSES TEMPORARY “DOC FIX”; HOUSE ACTION AWAITED
On December 17, the U.S. Senate voted 89-10 to pass the “Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011,” which included a two-month delay in implementing the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for calendar year 2012. As we reported in our Healthcare Update on November 7, the new Fee Schedule calls for an overall 27.4% reduction in payment rates for physicians, nurse practitioners and physical therapists.
Fee Schedule payments are determined by a Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula that was adopted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is required to follow. The temporary fix, which will be addressed by the House of Representatives when it returns on December 19, would delay the cuts until March 1, by which time Congress will have had the chance to come up with a legislative solution to the problem through the end of 2012. At the time of this writing, the House was expected to reject the two-month extension.
American Medical Association President Dr. Peter Carmel issued a press release criticizing Congress for waiting until the final week of the legislative session to address the issue. Dr. Carmel stated, “It is time for Congress to act on previous commitments to repeal the failed Medicare physician payment formula. The 12 temporary patches that Congress has applied have raised the cost of solving the problem by more than 500% over the last few years and eroded patients’ access to care. A permanent solution is the long overdue, fiscally responsible approach.”