Congress Makes Significant Progress on Physician Payment Reform

On Feb. 6, 2014, the Senate Finance, House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means Committees released bipartisan legislation to repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) physician payment system. The “SGR Repeal and Medicare Payment Modernization Act ” (S. 2000/H.R. 4015), establishes a new streamlined value-based incentive payment system called the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, or […]

Draft Framework for Repealing the SGR: The Cure May be Worse than the Disease

On Halloween, the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees released a bipartisan, bicameral draft proposal to repeal and replace Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The proposal would permanently repeal the SGR update mechanism, reform the fee-for-service payment system through greater focus on value over volume, and encourage participation in alternative payment models. […]

Efforts to Repeal the SGR Continue

Over the past few months there has been a lot of activity on the SGR front, and the AANS and CNS have been at the forefront of discussions on the best way to fix Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula. Neurosurgery is urging Congress to incorporate the following elements in any SGR replacement […]