April 2014

This week, the Senate followed the House of Representatives in passing legislation to patch the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) for the next 12 months. The bill continues the 0.5% update provided by Congress starting January 1, 2014 and extends the same payment rate through March 31st 2015.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill.

The bill also includes a number of other Medicare policy extenders as well as delaying CMS implementation of ICD-10 until October 1, 2015 and the Two-Midnight Rule. The ICD-10 delay is big news for the physician community and will likely provoke strong reactions – both pro and con. Early adopters and ICD-10 IT providers will be frustrated with the further delay. Physician practices struggling with the cost and training required for ICD-10 implementation will probably issue a sigh of relief for the delay.

This makes the 17th time that Congress has enacted a temporary patch to forestall looming SGR cuts. While the ATS is pleased the looming 24% cut in Medicare physician payments has been forestalled, we are disappointed Congress could not muster the political will to permanently solve the SGR crisis.

The ATS will continue to urge Congress to enact a permanent SGR fix.