October 25, 2013
A new infographic from the AMA’s Fix Medicare Now campaign conveys a simple, urgent message: Congress can continue to squander billions of dollars on short-term patches for a broken system or be fiscally responsible and repeal the so-called sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula this year.
Launched this fall, the Fix Medicare Now campaign has mobilized physicians, patients and grassroots activists in the effort to end Medicare’s flawed payment system. The infographic provides an at-a-glance history of SGR-related costs, giving advocates another tool as they press members of Congress to replace the current broken formula with a sustainable system that supports high-quality, cost-effective care.
In the last decade, Congress has acted 15 times to stop physician payment cuts under the SGR. The infographic depicts each temporary patch, making clear how these repeated patches have added up to an exorbitant total. If Congress were to freeze payment rates for 2014, total spending on patches would tick up to $164.5 billion.
Meanwhile, the total cost of simply repealing the SGR is just $139.1 billion.
“There’s never been a better time to reform the Medicare physician payment system—or to urge Congress to take action,” AMA President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, wrote in a recent blog post.
By visiting the Fix Medicare Now website, physicians and patients can email their members of Congress at the click of a button, or use the power of social media to spur action. Physicians also can access a flier to encourage patients to contact congressional lawmakers about this issue that affects their choice of physician and access to care.
Each new voice calling for a 21st-century Medicare system will join an increasingly large and powerful chorus. In August the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill to repeal the SGR in favor of more innovative and sustainable payment and care delivery models. Similar legislation is being prepared by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
The push for SGR repeal is gaining momentum at a critical time, with 10,000 new patients enrolling in Medicare each day, Dr. Hoven noted. The aging of the baby boomers will only increase the program’s importance.
Email your members of Congress today and urge them to be fiscally responsible by ending the SGR era and laying the groundwork for a more effective and efficient Medicare program.
(Article courtesy of American Medical Association.)
