March 1st Deadline For Medicare Physician 21.2% Fee Cut Is Almost Here....Again

Another Medicare SGR (Sustained Growth Rate) physician fee schedule cut deadline is almost here. This reduction in Medicare payments for physician services continues to be repeatedly postponed at the last minute year after year. With each year's delay, the amount of the cut has grown to 21.2% for 2010. While heavy lobbying by physician groups repeatedly causes Congress to address the fee cut by delaying it, it never results in addressing the SGR legislation that fuels it. Last November, a permanent fix was passed in the House but died in the Senate.

So once again, as the January 1 deadline approached in December, a last minute two month delay (until March 1) was buried within a Defense Appropriations bill. Earlier this month, another delay (until October 1) was put into a proposed $85 billion jobs creation bill (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act), but subsequent political wrangling caused this bill's scope to reduced to $15 billion and the SGR delay was removed.

This month, both the AMA, AAFP, and other physician groups have turned up their lobbying efforts again. Another delay? As AAFP president President Lori Heim, M.D stated "It is a travesty that Congress continues to kick this can down the road and doesn't address the underlying issue." Stay tuned.