Legislative Activity Last Thursday, President Obama signed H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, into law. Also known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) package or the “permanent doc fix,” the bill permanently repealed Medicare’s often-criticized physician payment system. The House and Senate each drew support from both sides of the aisle to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity With both chambers returning from recess this week, attention is focused on Senate consideration of the House-passed bill to permanently repeal Medicare’s physician payment system. While the last “doc fix” expired March 31, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated it would hold claims for two weeks to allow Congress to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Continue Negotiations on Doc Fix Package, Working Framework Announced With the current patch expiring on March 31, lawmakers continued over the weekend to negotiate a legislative package to permanently repeal Medicare’s automatic payment cut to physicians. H.R. 1470 is very similar to the bipartisan legislation that key committees in both chambers approved … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congressmen Negotiate SGR Package Lawmakers on the House side of the Capitol continue to negotiate a package that would prevent an anticipated cut to Medicare physician payments and include a permanent repeal of payment system. Bipartisan leaders on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce … Continue Reading