Congress Extends 2010 Medicare/Medicaid Physician Fee Schedule Through 2011

Legislation that will extend the 2010 Medicare physician fee schedule through 2011, avoiding a 25 percent cut in payment to doctors, awaits the president’s signature. On Dec. 9 the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4994, the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010, while the Senate approved the bill Dec. 6. The measure sets a zero update to the calculation that determines physician payment under Medicare, known as the sustainable growth rate formula. However, without additional legislation the formula would again kick in on Jan. 1, 2012, with attendant cuts in physician payment.

“It has come time for Congress to ensure senior citizens have access to the medical care they need by stepping up and permanently fixing the outdated SGR formula,” stated AANS member Alex B. Valadka, MD, in a press release from the Alliance for Specialty Medicine, of which the AANS is a member.

“The formula must recognize the true cost of providing quality health care in America today,” he said. “Medicare reimbursement hasn’t kept up with cutting edge medical discoveries, and a new system that takes into account these life-saving advances must be established if our nation’s seniors are going to get the quality of health care they deserve.”