Senate Vote Paves the way to SGR Reform

From AMA Advocacy Update:

On January 28, the Senate passed H.J. Res. 45, a resolution to raise the federal debt limit along with several limited exemptions to the PAYGO rule. This includes exception for addressing the Medicare physician payment cuts about to be produced by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula.

This action means that up to $82 billion spent for an SGR fix would not have to be offset by other revenue or cuts. This amount could fund a five-year freeze. Thus, some have characterized the SGR exemption as a five-year freeze.

The House is expected to take up and pass H.J. Res. 45 this week. Congress must still enact separate legislation to stop the SGR cuts prior to March 1.

To obtain permanent repeal of the flawed payment formula, the PAYGO exception must be accompanied by an additional $130 billion in budget offsets.

AMA position: The AMA continues to insist that Congress pass legislation to permanently repeal the SGR.