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Hospitals say cost of SGR fix shouldn't fall to providers
Hospitals are the latest healthcare group to argue that Congress shouldn’t pay for a new Medicare payment system by cutting doctors and other providers.
The Medicare Payments Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is considering a draft recommendation to replace the unpopular sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The SGR calls for annual, automatic cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, which Congress always delays, allowing the cuts to accumulate.
MedPAC is considering a 10-year replacement that would be offset by cuts to most medical specialties. But the American Hospital Association said healthcare providers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for a new formula.
“Offsetting the cost of the repeal with Medicare cuts to hospitals and other providers is merely ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ and is the wrong approach,” the AHA said in a letter to MedPAC.
MedPAC is slated to vote on the SGR recommendations Thursday.
