After holding an overnight vote-a-rama session well into Friday morning, the U.S. Senate decided to delay voting on the sustainable growth rate repeal until after its recess.
The H.R. 2 bill overwhelmingly passed the House Thursday in a vote of 392 to 37, which put pressure on Senators to make a decision prior to its two-week recess.
[Also: House passes SGR bill by huge margin]
Senators will take action on the bill when they return the week of April 13, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, told The Hill. McConnell said Senators would “move to it very quickly,” he said.
The deadline for the “doc fix” to expire is April 1, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can handle the two-week gap, McConnell told The Hill.
CMS is expected to temporarily hold claims during that time to avoid physicians taking a 21 percent pay cut for Medicare reimbursement under cost-cutting mandates put into place under SGR.
[Also: CBO says SGR bill will widen deficit]
H.R. 2 repeals automatic payment cuts to doctors under Medicare that go into effect on April 1.
Passage would end the 'doc fixes' that Congress has passed 17 times in the past 20 years to delay the drastic pay cuts to physicians.
It is expected to cost an estimated $200 billion, adding $141 billion to the deficit, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office.
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN