The agreement would get rid of the troubled system that has often left doctors uncertain about their reimbursements, but the bipartisan leaders have not yet found a way to pay for such a change.
Los Angeles Times: U.S. Lawmakers Reach Accord On Paying Doctors For Medicare
In a rare bipartisan agreement, congressional leaders have settled on a plan to fix Medicare's system for paying physicians, potentially ending years of uncertainty that often held up fees for doctors who care for the nation's senior citizens. The proposed fix still must be paid for, requiring lawmakers to come up with as much as $150 billion in savings from elsewhere in the budget (Levey, 2/6).
The Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers Reach Deal On Doctor Payments
House and Senate lawmakers have agreed on a five-year plan to change how physicians are paid for treating Medicare patients, an issue that has created a recurring scramble in Congress for over a decade. Under the deal announced Thursday, Medicare would increase the amount it pays physicians by 0.5% each year for the next five years. The agreement was the result of talks that included the top members of the Senate Finance, House Energy and Commerce, and House Ways and Means committees (Radnofsky, 2/6).
Kaiser Health News: Hill Plan Would Reward Medicare Doctors For Quality
Now comes the hard part. After negotiating for months over how to overhaul Medicare's troubled payment system for physicians, the bipartisan leadership of three Senate and House committees has reached a deal on the policy. Their next task could be even harder -- finding a way to finance repeal of the "doc fix," the shorthand for the 1997 formula used to set physician payments, the sustainable growth rate (Carey, 2/7).
The Hill: Finally, A Permanent 'Doc Fix' Bill
Committee leaders in the House and Senate have unveiled bipartisan legislation repealing Medicare's flawed physician payment system and giving doctors in the program a small pay raise. The bill was introduced Thursday after more than a year of negotiations between parties in both chambers. Its central provisions repeal Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula and increase physician reimbursement rates by 0.5 percent annually for 5 years (Viebeck, 2/6).
