The negotiations between House Speaker John Boehner and House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi regarding a proposed deal to eliminate
the annual "doc fix" problem (previously discussed
here) has resulted in the introduction of bills in the U.S.
Senate and House of Representatives. On March 19, members of both
houses of Congress announced that a deal had been reached to
permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula used
to calculate changes to physician fee schedules for Medicare
payments. Passage of the proposed legislation would put an end to
the perennial "doc fix" problem requiring Congress to
repeatedly postpone cuts in payments to Medicare providers.
Although a deal was reached among Congressional leaders, the bills
must still be passed by both houses of Congress and be signed into
law. If this does not occur by March 31, 2015, the expiration date
of last year's Congressional action to delay payment cuts,
a new action will be required to again postpone the cuts.
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