Medicare
Contact: John Hedstrom, jhedstrom@facs.org
Medicare Physician Payment
SGR-ACS Reaches out to Congress for Repeal (390K PDF)
ACS Seeks Hill support to Repeal Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) (165K PDF)
ACS supports repeal of Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
On February 28, 2012, the American College of Surgeons sent a letter in support of the “Medicare Decisions Accountability Act” (H.R. 452), legislation which would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).
Click here to view the letter (160K PDF)
MedPAC Plan to Offset SGR Repeal With Pay Cut Faces Opposition
On November 16, 2011, Congressmen Michael Burgess and Gene Green, along with 92 other members of Congress, sent a letter to House leadership expressing their opposition to a recent recommendation from MedPAC, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. The College strongly opposed the MedPAC proposal, which specifically includes a 5.9 percent cut for most physicians each year for three years to partially offset the cost of repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate or SGR formula. The College believes that a replacement needs to be created that leverages quality, bends the cost curve, pays down the SGR debt, and incentivizes value in the future. Physician-led quality improvement programs based on value are integral to reforming the SGR and offer the best chance of transforming our health care system in a way that expands access and improves outcomes.
Click here to view the letter (1170K PDF)
ACS, Coalition of Physician Groups Oppose MedPAC Recommendations that Would Cut Payments for Surgical Care
The American College of Surgeons, along with 42 other physician organizations, sent an October 3 letter to Glenn Hackbarth, Chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), stating the organizations could not support MedPAC’s draft recommendations regarding Medicare’s physician payment system, which were first released on September 15. Previously, ACS leadership had also issued a statement on September 16 strongly opposing MedPAC’s draft recommendation, which would call for cutting Medicare payments to physicians, excluding primary care, by 5.9 percent per year for the next three years.
Click here to view the letter (60K PDF)
ACS Supports Legislation Preventing Cuts to In-Office Osteoporosis Screenings
On September 13th the College sent a letter to Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX) thanking him for introducing H.R. 2020, legislation to prevent cuts to in-office osteoporosis screenings The letter thanked the Congressman for his efforts, which will help prevent falls and fractures through early diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis.
Click here to read the letter (165K PDF)
ACS sends letter to Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
On September 1, 2011, the College sent a letter to the twelve members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction advocating for the elimination of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), and offering the College’s proven quality programs as models of how we can reduce costs, prevent complications, and improve quality.
Click here to view the letter (185K PDF)
ACS Commends Bipartisan Effort to Reform Medicare Physician Payments
On Tuesday, July 19, 17 physician organizations, including the American College of Surgeons (ACS), issued a statement commending the Senate Bipartisan “Gang of 6” for recognizing that reform of the Medicare physician payment formula—specifically a full repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula over the next 10 years—must be included in deficit reduction legislation. In the statement, the organizations, which collectively represent more than 700,000 physicians, reiterated that they will continue to work with the many members of Congress from both chambers and both parties who are committed to resolving the Medicare physician payment issue once and for all.
ACS and Physician Community Call on White House and Congress to Reform the Medicare Physician Payment System
On June 27, 113 national and state physician societies and organizations, including the American College of Surgeons, sent a letter to the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House, the Senate and House Majority and Minority Leaders, and other key congressional leaders expressing support for including much-needed measures to address the broken Medicare physician payment system in the context of debt ceiling legislation. As Fellows know, unless Congress intervenes, Medicare physician payments are scheduled to be cut 29.5 percent on January 1, 2012 because of the broken sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that is used to calculate Medicare payments. The College continues to call on Congress to stop these cuts and replace the SGR with a Medicare payment system that preserves and promotes patient access to quality surgical care.
Click here to view the letter (20K PDF)
ACS Supports ASC Quality and Access Act of 2011 (S. 1173, H.R. 2108)
On June 22, ACS Executive Director, David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS expressed the College’s support for the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access (ASCQA) Act of 2011 (S. 1173, H.R. 2108). Dr. Hoyt expressed support for the ASCQA Act in letters to the bill’s bipartisan Senate and House sponsors—Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), and Rep. John Larson (D-CT). Despite the fact that ASCs and HOPDs provide the same surgical services, Medicare reimburses ASCs at only 56% of the amount paid to HOPDs for identical services. To preserve access to ASCs and to address this growing inequity, the ASCQA Act would update future Medicare payments to ASCs using the same market basket update—which measures growth in health care costs—that is used to update Medicare payments to HOPDs. The legislation also promotes high quality care by establishing quality reporting and by implementing a value-based purchasing (VBP) program for ASCs.
View the House letter (165K PDF)
View the Senate letter (165K PDF)
ACS Opposes MedPAC Recommendations to Cut Payments, Limit Access to Imaging Services
On June 15, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) released its June 2011 Report to the Congress, which included recommendations that would cut Medicare reimbursement for imaging services provided in physician offices and would require prior authorization for imaging services ordered by some physicians. Following the report’s release, the Coalition for Patient-Centered Imaging (CPCI), of which the College is a member, released a statement expressing disappointment with the recommendations, which could negatively impact patient access to high quality, cost effective options in imaging and diagnostic services.
ACS opposes the “Medicare Physician Payment Transparency and Assessment Act of 2011” (H.R. 1256)
In a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking members of the key House committees on May 4, 2011, the ACS expressed opposition to the “Medicare Physician Payment Transparency and Assessment Act of 2011” (H.R. 1256), which would require that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) employ the services of outside contractors and annually analyze potentially misvalued services and codes under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). The ACS believes that this legislation is unnecessary, duplicative, and would ignore previous lessons about contractors’ inability to assess the relative value of services under the MPFS.
Click here to view the letter (185K PDF)
ACS Submits Medicare Physician Payment letter to the House Energy & Commerce Committee
On April 28, 2011, the ACS sent a response to a bi-partisan letter to leaders of physician organizations from senior members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. The letter called for specific ideas and proposals on how to reform the Medicare physician payment system.
Click here to view the letter (200K PDF)
ACS and 46 Other Organizations Send Letter to Members of the House of Representatives Regarding the Importance of the Relative Value Update Committee (RUC)
Click here to view the letter (25K PDF)
Revised May 3, 2012