Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) today announced an Open Executive Session on December 12th at 10am ET to consider an original bill to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) system and to consider health care ‘extenders’. On October 31st, the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee released a discussion draft (available here) soliciting input to begin the committee process for a full repeal of the law.
Chairman Baucus recently summarized the discussion draft:
After much input from key stakeholders we have come together to create a permanent fix to the Medicare physician payment formula…For years, Medicare payments to doctors have been at risk of being slashed, limiting seniors’ access to high quality care. Enough with the quick fixes. Our proposal is for a new physician payment system that rewards value over volume. It will go a long way in improving the efficiency and quality of care for America’s seniors.
The intended framework would repeal the SGR update mechanism, reform the fee-for-service (FFS) payment system by shifting from volume-driven health care services to value-based payment models that incentivize providers on quality, outcomes, and cost containment, and encourage participation in alternative payment models (APM), such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and patient-centered medical homes. The revised FFS system would freeze current payment levels through the ten-year budget window, while allowing individual physicians and other health care professionals to earn performance-based incentive payments through a compulsory budget-neutral program.
Policy and Medicine will follow the proposals as they move forward.