October 2006

Medicare fix possible by end of year

The Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton (R-Texas) has said he wants to continue working on an overhaul of the Medicare physician payment system, despite the fall Congressional recess.

According to a story in the Sept. 28 issue the e-newsletter [ITAL] CQ Healthbeat, [/ITAL] Barton is committed to scrapping the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The SGR in its current form could cut reimbursements 40 percent over nine years.

Barton is joined by others committee members, who agree they are aiming to have the law fixed by Christmas.

Barton has proposed a multi-year program that would increase Medicare payments to physicians by 0.5 percent in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

The proposal would pay physicians an additional 0.25 percent in 2008 and again in 2009 if they participated in a local utilization management program and either took part in a Medicare program for reporting on the quality of their care; participated in a pilot project to have a single primary care doctor coordinate care of the chronically ill; or reported on the use of at least three “structural” measures, such as electronic systems to follow up on referrals and abnormal test results, registries to track patient compliance with recommended treatments, and programs to reduce medical errors.

Source: The Commonwealth Fund’s Washington Health Policy Week in Review, www.cmwf.org

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