A bipartisan majority in the U.S. House voted on H.R. 4015, a bill replacing the broken Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, or SGR, with an incentives-based payment structure that strengthens Medicare for Arizona’s seniors. The SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014 repeals the current sustainable growth rate (SGR) for Medicare and replaces it with a 5-year payment plan for physicians management of Medicare patients.
Arizona Congressman David Schweikert called the repeal “a long-awaited step in the right direction. Relying on a yearly ‘Doc Fix’ for the people caring for our seniors was a waste of time and effort. It is time for Washington to produce meaningful reform for physicians — they need to be able to care for Medicare patients without fear of unexpected pay cuts,” continued Schweikert.
Schweikert said the bill “will provide long-term security for our seniors instead of the one year kicking-the-can approach of the past years.”
The Medicare financing formula, or sustainable growth rate (SGR), was created in 1997 to control physician reimbursement payments for Medicare patient care and link the reimbursement to the economic trajectory of the country. H.R. 4015 will provide a Medicare reimbursement framework for our doctors, for the next five years.
“This bill protects Arizona seniors and ensures that Medicare remains strong and dependable,” said Arizona Congresswoman Krysten Sinema. “The bipartisan fixes in this bill prevent a 24 percent cut to physicians’ Medicare reimbursement rates and ensure seniors’ access to their doctors.”
Sinema called on the Senate to remove the “controversial, partisan sections of this bill and move forward swiftly with the underlying bipartisan fix to the SGR prior to the April 1 deadline. Arizona’s seniors and the doctors who serve them deserve no less.”