The Senate voted Monday night to pass legislation that provides a short-term fix for the sustainable growth rate (SGR) methodology Medicare uses to pay physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries. Unfortunately, the legislative “patch” was passed without any of the industry’s amendments to competitive bidding.
The House passed similar legislation last Thursday. The SGR patch will be in effect until April 1, 2015.
The industry made significant headway in the Senate by working with members of the Senate Finance Committee in December 2013 to develop various short- and long-term fixes to competitive bidding based on the Market Pricing Program that could be attached to the sustainable growth rate (SGR) reform bill.
“Although we’re disappointed that Congress didn’t include fixes for Medicare’s poorly managed bidding program, we’ll continue to get cosponsors for H.R. 1717, and look for another piece of legislation that can carry its provisions,” said Tom Ryan, president of the American Association for Homecare.
Ryan also noted that while the industry saw no competitive bidding amendments boiled into this year’s “doc fix,” the patch also didn’t reach into the pockets of HME businesses to cover the cost of the fix.
“In the past, Congress has unfairly targeted the HME industry to lessen the impact of cost-cutting on doctors,” Ryan explained. “AAHomecare was able to hold the line and avoid any cuts to HME.”
Another important amendment to the patch was a one-year delay in ICD-10 implementation that was included in the legislation. A statement from AAHoemcare said the association it did not request the delay, but that the postponement should give providers additional time to prepare for the transition to the new coding system.