U.S. Senate Passes Bill Reforming Medicare Payments to Physicians

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Tuesday night overwhelmingly passed a bill to do away with the controversial Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, a mechanism used to calculate Medicare payments to physicians, FierceHealthcare reported.

The vote, 92-8, took place at 9:40 p.m., dangerously close to a midnight deadline when payment cuts of 21{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} were due to take effect unless the Senate approved the legislation. Democratic and Republican lawmakers drafted the proposed $214 billion ‘doc fix’ legislation in late March, and the bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a 402-12 vote.

Despite the support of physician lobby groups and trade associations, many have expressed concerns with the costs of the repeal and lack of details. A recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report casts doubt on the bill’s value as a long-term solution to physician reimbursement problems and indicated that Congress will likely have to pass further legislative fixes in the future.

Prior to the vote, which required only a simple majority, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) called the bipartisan legislation a “monumental achievement.” Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) referred to the repeal as a milestone for Medicare, one that finally retired an “outdated, common sense-defying reimbursement system.”