CMA part of national effort to urge House leadership to act on Medicare SGR payment overhaul before the year ends The California Medical Association (CMA) is part of a national multi-state, multi-specialty effort headed by the American Medical Association to keep bipartisan momentum going to address Medicare fee-for-service sustainable growth rate (SGR) reform. CMA has asked the California congressional delegation to sign a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urging them to make it a priority to reform the Medicare physician payment system before the end of the year. The joint letter is being circulated in Congress by Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) and ... October 28, 2013 Medicare Insurance/Reimbursement, Medicare, SGR, Sustainable Growth Rate, Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Medicare locality reform ("The California GPCI Fix") clears House Congressional Committee as part of the Medicare SGR overhaul legislation On July 31, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve a BIPARTISAN Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) overhaul legislation, H.R. 2810. Included in the bill is the CMA-sponsored California Medicare locality reform known as the “California GPCI Fix.” The California locality provision is a compromise between Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Democrat Henry Waxman (D-CA) who insisted the California update be part of the committee bill. It is based on legislation by Congressman Sam Farr (D-Santa Cruz/Monterey) and Darrell Issa (R-San Diego) who are ... July 31, 2013 Medicare California GPCI Fix, SGR, Sustainable Growth Rate, Medicare 0 0 Comment Read More »
House committee releases bipartisan Medicare SGR reform bill Three congressional committees have been hard at work over the past few months on legislation that would eliminate the desperately broken Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that is used to determine physician payment rates. On Friday, the health subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee's health subcommittee released its bill to repeal the SGR. One Tuesday the bill was approved by the subcommittee and now heads to the full committee for consideration. The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have ... July 25, 2013 Medicare Insurance/Reimbursement, Medicare, SGR, Advocacy, Sustainable Growth Rate 0 0 Comment Read More »
Congress Making Progress on SGR Repeal Two influential committees in the U.S. House of Representatives continue to work on a framework for eliminating the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. With the cost of eliminating the SGR at its lowest point in a decade, the congressional committees have been making progress on draft legislative language to fix the badly broken Medicare payment system. The SGR formula has been threatening severe payment cuts to physician reimbursement for more than a decade. Over the years, moves to repeal the SGR have failed, due in large part to the ... June 3, 2013 Medicare Medicare sustainable growth rate, SGR 0 0 Comment Read More »
