‘Doc fix’ fixed?

This may be the case.  Fox News reports: The Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation permanently overhauling how Medicare pays physicians late Tuesday in a rare show of near-unanimity from Congress. The legislation headed off a 21 percent cut in doctors’ Medicare fees that would have taken effect Wednesday, when the government planned to begin processing physicians’…

Fixing the “doc fix”

The sustainable growth rate (SGR) was implemented by Congress in1998.  The SGR’s aim was to slowly bring down or at least decellerate Medicare compensation for physicians compensation.  However, each year, it gets reversed by Congress. Now, instead of a gradual decline, the implementation of SGR would  result in about at 25%pay cut for Medicare docs.…

Doc Fix: 2014 Edition

It’s that time of year.  The time of year where Medicare threatens to cut physician salaries by double digits (in this case 24.4%).  This is no idle threat.  Under current law, CMS is mandated to cut physician salaries under the sustainable growth rate formula.   Its the time of year that physician lobbyists (rightly) complain that…

Is IPAB the new “Doc Fix”?

There has much debate in the Presidential debates about IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB can make cuts to Medicare spending, but the question is whether any of these recommended cuts would  ever actually be enacted, since Congress can reverse any IPAB recommendation.  According to an article in The Hill, the answer may be…

Doc Fix Fixed…for Two Months

Kaiser Health News reports: The House GOP leadership’s agreement to a Senate proposal averts a 27 percent paycut to doctors scheduled to take effect in January. The deal delays the cut until March 1, and lawmakers hope to hammer out an agreement on a longer-term fix to the payment formula before then. As I previously noted,…