[Report Courtesy AMA Morning Rounds]
The AP (4/17) reports that President Obama on Thursday (4/16) signed legislation repealing Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula, two days after the Senate passed the bipartisan bill. The article notes the bill blocked a 21-percent cut in Medicare payments that was scheduled to take effect this week. Obama praised House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for negotiating the deal and “said the new law helps Medicare by giving assurance to doctors about their payments.”
Meanwhile, “organized medicine is both applauding Congressional repeal of Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician reimbursement and defending the new payment system in its place,” Medscape (4/17, Lowes) reports. The American Medical Association, for instance, pushed back against a report from CMS’ chief actuary that “said that annual increases in fee-for-service rates stipulated in MACRA will not keep pace with growth in practice expenses.”
