Bipartisan legislation proposed last year to permanently replace Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula would cost $174.5 billion between fiscal years 2015 and 2025, according to a report released this month from the Congressional Budget Office.
[Also: Congress kicks off meeting to reform SGR]
Congress over the years has passed a number of delays to scheduled reductions to Medicare physician reimbursement rates called for by the SGR. The most recent postponement also delayed implementation of diagnostic coding set ICD-10, after a provision for the delay of ICD-10 was slipped into the bill.
Lawmakers continue to seek a permanent replacement to the SGR, but need to also replace the funding.
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A Congressional Budget Office table called “Medicare’s Payment to Physicians: the Budgetary Effects of Alternative Policies,” includes estimates for several replacement and short-term alternatives to the current rules for setting Medicare’s payment rates for physicians’ services. The starting date for all of these alternative policies would be April 1, 2015.
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN