| News from the American College of Surgeons For Immediate Release: December 28, 2005 |
Contact: Sally Garneski 312-202-5409 |
An important note to members of the American College of Surgeons
Congress Adjourns without Enacting Pay Fix
December 28, 2005
Last week, I wrote to tell you that Congress had taken steps toward averting a 4.4 percent across-the-board reduction in Medicare payments for physician services that is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2006. That legislation--S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005--narrowly passed the House and Senate in slightly different forms on December 19 and December 21, respectively. Unfortunately, Congress adjourned for the holidays without reconciling the differences between the two bills. As a result, the 4.4 percent Medicare payment cut will, in fact, take place on January 1.
It is important to note that S. 1932 is an enormous piece of legislation that addresses issues well beyond the scope of Medicare physician payments—ranging from Hurricane Katrina relief to pensions, student loans, bankruptcy, housing, and agriculture matters. The failure to gain its ultimate passage was unrelated to physician issues. And, while the physician payment freeze included in both versions of the bill falls far short of what is needed to ensure the financial viability of surgical practices, it represents an interim step toward enactment of meaningful payment reforms that are vital to ensuring that surgeons remain available to provide complex and critically needed services to our nation's elderly and disabled citizens.
Congress is not scheduled to return to Washington until January 31, and it is not clear whether or how soon the interim physician payment fix, which enjoys bipartisan and bicameral support, can be enacted. Nor is it certain at this point whether any legislation that may be enacted in early 2006 would be applied retroactively to services provided on or after January 1.
What is clear, of course, is that surgeons cannot indefinitely continue to absorb their escalating practice expenses and liability costs while reimbursement for their services fails to keep pace. The American College of Surgeons and its medical and surgical specialty society coalition partners will redouble their efforts during 2006 to advocate for true system reforms that will end this frustrating annual exercise to bring financial predictability to surgical practices. We will continue to keep you informed throughout this effort.
With all best regards,
Thomas R. Russell, MD, FACS
Executive Director
American College of Surgeons
Online December 28, 2005