Press Releases

Representative Larry Bucshon, M.D. released the following statement regarding the draft legislation released by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to permanently fix the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The legislative framework, released today, would replace the current SGR formula with a fair and stable system of physician payment in the Medicare program.

“The draft legislation released today is a great step forward in a transparent process to permanently fix our broken SGR formula,” said Bucshon.  "These reforms are critical to provide our nation’s seniors with quality, accessible care and to provide certainty for physicians. I would like to thank Chairman Upton and Chairman Camp for their leadership on this issue over the last two and a half years. I look forward to helping in any way I can to secure a permanent fix to this long-standing problem that could hinder access to medical care for senior citizens.” 

BACKGROUND (Courtesy the House Committee on Energy and Commerce): Enacted in 1997 as part of the “Balanced Budget Act,” the Sustainable Growth Rate has been a source of continued concern for physicians who serve Medicare beneficiaries and for the beneficiaries themselves. Long recognized as an imperfect solution that rewards quantity of services rather than the quality of care, Congress has repeatedly implemented a temporary “doc fix” to prevent substantial Medicare reimbursement rate cuts, which could result in fewer physicians being able to serve Medicare patients.

2013 SGR Reform Milestones

February 7, 2013 - Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committee leaders outline a framework to reform the current Medicare system. Committees ask for feedback on the outline by February 25.

February 14, 2013 – Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health holds hearing on “SGR: Data, Measures and Models; Building a Future Medicaid Physician Payment System.”

April 3, 2013 – Leaders from the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees outlined additional details of a proposal to repeal the SGR system. The leaders also sent a letter to the provider community requesting feedback. The leaders requested stakeholder feedback by April 15.

May 28, 2013 - the Energy and Commerce Committee unveiled a draft legislative framework, seeking further stakeholder input by June 10.

June 5, 2013 – Subcommittee on Health holds a hearing on “Reforming SGR: Prioritizing Quality in Modernized Physician Payment System”

View the draft legislation here.

View the supplemental policy document (referenced in the draft legislation on page 19) here.

View questions seeking stakeholder feedback here.