House Ways and Means Committee Member Rep. Tim Griffin (R-Ark.) said a measure to reform Medicare’s sustainable growth rate that was approved by the committee on Thursday would permanently fix the physician reimbursement system.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved an amendment to the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013 that would repeal the SGR and institute a more equitable system to reimburse physicians for providing care to Medicare recipients.
“Everyone agrees that Medicare’s current SGR hurts doctors and threatens seniors’ access to quality healthcare and must be reformed, and I am proud of the hard, bipartisan work of the members of the Ways and Means Committee, who unanimously passed a framework for reform that permanently repeals and replaces the SGR framework,” Griffin said.
Griffin added that the House’s approval of a three-month SGR fix on Thursday would buy time for legislators to finalize the permanent reforms.
The House’s temporary SGR measure was included in the bipartisan budget agreement. The measure would prevent a 20.1-percent cut in reimbursement to physicians and replace it with a 0.5-percent increase through April.
The amendment to the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013 is supported by approximately 50 medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians.