AMCNO Urges Action on the Medicare Payment Cut Issue

The AMCNO joins the American Medical Association (AMA) and the myriad other medical organizations from around the country in asking for the repeal of the SGR. As noted by the AMA, there is bipartisan agreement that a 30 percent cut in payments to those who care for Medicare patients would be devastating to seniors’ access to health care. The SGR formula fails to keep up with the costs involved in delivering medical care to older and disabled patients and in actuality reimbursement to physicians has already gone far below what Medicare was paying for physician services in 2001. The underlying flaw of the SGR formula is the link between the performance of the overall economy and the actual cost of providing physician services. The medical needs of individual patients are not related to the overall economy. 

The AMCNO stressed to both Congress and the committee that any serious proposal to confront the fiscal challenges facing our nation, and the Medicare program in particular, must address the massive shortfall in funding for Medicare payments for physician services. The AMCNO also pointed out that the Northern Ohio physician community provides care to a large number of Medicare beneficiaries and in order to keep serving these patients, physicians in our community must be able to meet the expenses they incur in providing their medical care. Passing temporary patches that make future cuts steeper and escalate the costs of permanent payment reform is not the fiscally responsible course to take, nor does it support the long-term viability of important health care programs. The AMCNO stressed that it is long past time for Congress to address the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and the time is now to repeal the SGR and adopt new payment models and move to a more stable Medicare payment system that provides security for patients and the physicians who care for them.