In their annual report about the financial future of the program released Monday, the Medicare trustees announced that they will no longer base their budget assumptions on current law calling for physician payment cuts resulting from the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, demonstrating a general agreement that it’s time to get rid of the broken formula once and for all.
“The assumption supports the fact that the failed SGR policy paints a false picture of Medicare finances and underlines the need for Congress to pass a permanent solution to this flawed policy this year,” AMA President Robert M. Wah, MD, said in a statement.
Without congressional action, the SGR formula calls for a 20.8 percent cut to physician payments when the current short-term patch expires March 31.
“The temporary SGR patches that Congress has passed over the last 12 years are fiscally irresponsible, and have impeded the implementation of new health care delivery and payment reforms that would benefit patients and taxpayers by improving the quality of care and increasing efficiencies in the Medicare program,” Dr. Wah said.
The AMA continues to urge Congress to enact the bipartisan Medicare payment reform legislation that was supported unanimously by three congressional committees of jurisdiction earlier this year.
In addition to its assumptions about physician payment, the Medicare trustees report projected that the trust fund financing Medicare’s coverage for hospital services will remain solvent until 2030, four years beyond last year’s projections. Per capita spending also is expected to continue to grow more slowly than the overall economy for the next several years.
