The Senate failed Thursday night to pass a veto-proof vote on a bill that would block a 10.6 percent payment cut for physicians participating in Medicare. The cut is slated to begin July 1.
Earlier this week, the House overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill to freeze physician payment cuts for 18 months and provide a 1.1 percent payment increase in 2009.
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 introduced earlier this month by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) was designed for bipartisan support, Baucus said. But Senate Republicans groused that Democrats allowed no leeway for compromise.
Both the Senate and the House versions of the bill include measures to require physicians to use electronic prescribing, boost payments to rural physicians and provide support to rural hospitals.
But with a foundering Medicare budget, the argument comes over how to fund the pay increase.
Democrats want to slash payments to the Medicare HMO plan, Medicare Advantage, while Republicans see other areas to make cuts. The administration has made indications it will veto any bill that would provide Medicare Advantage funding.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, other members of Congress and stakeholders fear that a drop in payment rates will force many physicians from Medicare participation, posing a threat to care access for seniors. Grassley has pushed compromise through the bitter bipartisan struggle over the month of June to pass a physician payment fix the president will sign.
"The Senate leader's take-it-or-leave-it approach and on-the-floor election-year calculations hurt doctors and seniors," Grassley said. "It's past time for the Senate to act responsibly and work out a bipartisan bill to avert an unfair cut in the reimbursement rate for doctors who treat Medicare patients."
According to Nancy Nielsen, MD, president of the American Medical Association, if the cut is not corrected through legislation, 60 percent of physicians say they will drop from Medicare participation. In addition, more than half of doctors say they will need to cut staff, and 14 percent say they will quit patient care altogether.
There has been talk on the Hill that Congress may delay the Fourth of July recess expected to begin tonight in order to forge some sort of compromise.
If you are a physician participating in Medicare, how will a 10.6 percent payment cut affect your practice? Send your comments to Senior Editor Diana Manos at diana.manos@medtechpublishing.com.