Medicare Physician Payment Update

Current legislation being reviewed in Congress has the potential to drastically alter the practice of surgery in the United States. The American College of Surgeons position is that there can be no meaningful health care reform without long-term reforms to the Medicare physician payment system, which is based on the flawed sustainable growth rate formula (SGR). As you are aware, on January 1, 2010, surgeons, and all physicians face a 22% cut in Medicare reimbursement.

ACS and the AMA are advocating that to reform Medicare’s payment system and find more innovative models of Medicare physician payment, Congress must first immediately and permanently eliminate the SGR. ACS does not support another short-term “patch” that only temporarily prevents Medicare payment cuts and does not directly address the problems with the SGR.

Additional information about the ACS and the AMA positions on this issue can be found at the following links:

AMA Medicare Physician Payment Reform
American College of Surgeons Health Care Reform Information

If you are interested in helping to advance this issue, contact your Senators and Representatives today. The following instructions are from the ACS:

Instructions
Please call toll-free 1-877-925-8742
You will be asked to enter your zip code and will then be connected to your legislators’ offices. Once you are connected, tell them you are a constituent and leave your name, phone number and address, along with the suggested message below.

Phone Message
As a surgeon and as your constituent, I urge you to ensure that the SGR is permanently abolished in any health care reform legislation and that this critical issue is not simply addressed by another short-term patch.