In a move that is being called an “outrageous” ploy, the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday used a voice vote—absent the majority of representatives—to pass a Medicare payment patch strongly opposed by physician groups.
The vote originally had been scheduled for Thursday morning but was delayed procedurally because the House did not have a quorum. Instead, House leaders from both parties agreed to take a voice vote before the majority of representatives could make it to the floor.
On Wednesday, the AMA and 89 other medical associations submitted a letter to the House, calling for them to vote down the bill that both would cast aside legislation that could repeal the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and would put up roadblocks to much-needed reform in the future.
“The AMA is extremely disappointed in today’s House action to give up on SGR repeal,” AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, said in a statement Thursday. “There was bipartisan, bicameral support for reform this year, yet too many in Congress lacked the courage and wherewithal to permanently fix Medicare to improve care for patients and provide greater certainty for physician practices.”
“Congressional leadership had to resort to trickery to pass an SGR patch that was opposed by physicians,” Dr. Hoven said.
If adopted by the U.S. Senate, the payment patch would be the 17th temporary measure Congress has passed to preserve the failing SGR formula. The bill would extend the current 0.5 percent update through the end of the year and freeze payment rates from January to March of next year.
Also included in the patch bill is a provision that would delay the deadline for implementing the ICD-10 code set from Oct. 1 of this year until Oct. 1, 2015. Transitioning to the new code set will be extremely costly for physicians, and the AMA continues to work to stop its implementation altogether.
The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the patch bill. The AMA sent a letter Friday calling on the Senate to vote down the bill and resume bipartisan, bicameral work to eliminate the SGR formula at last.
Urge your U.S. senators today to vote “no” to H.R. 4302. Call via the AMA’s grassroots hotline at (800) 833-6354, and send them an urgent email message. Tell Congress to stop passing temporary patches and giving excuses; it’s time to repeal the SGR formula once and for all.
