HLC: Medicare Payment Reform Essential During Congressional Lame Duck Session
In a letter it has co-signed with more than 60 other healthcare companies and associations, the Healthcare Leadership Council has urged the U.S. Senate and House leadership of both parties to repeal the current Medicare physician payment formula and enact payment reform before the current congressional “lame duck” session concludes.
The co-signing organizations told Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House leaders John Boehner (R-OH), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that the repeated temporary patches – 16 since 2003 — to the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula “leave healthcare providers uncertain about payment rates they will receive year after year” and “continue to disadvantage physicians and health professionals who provide better care at lower costs.”
The letter points out that Congress has developed comprehensive bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would fix the Medicare payment formula and better reward health providers for patient care improvements. The co-signers urged the House and Senate leadership to act expeditiously and “start the 114th Congress without another looming SGR deadline.”
