Hospitals Bless 'Doc Fix' Deal, Approval Still Dicey - McDermott+Consulting

Hospitals Bless ‘Doc Fix’ Deal, Approval Still Dicey

The House is pushing forward with plans to vote Thursday on a permanent repeal of Medicare’s loathed sustainable growth-rate [SGR] formula for paying doctors.  But the package still faces a multitude of political hurdles, most notably continuing opposition from Senate Democrats.
The House is pushing forward with plans to vote Thursday on a permanent repeal of Medicare’s loathed sustainable growth-rate [SGR] formula for paying doctors.  But the package still faces a multitude of political hurdles, most notably continuing opposition from Senate Democrats.

(…)

Eric Zimmerman, a principal with McDermott+Consulting, said the proposal is similar to other payment cuts that Congress has ginned up to pay for short-term doc fixes in the past. “We’ve seen lots of examples of Congress saying 0% update for these services or those services,” Zimmerman said. “This is a pretty classic turning the dial.” … [Regarding some notable provisions that didn’t end up in the package, … “All those still could be added,” Zimmerman said. “I don’t know if these numbers get them where they need to be.”

Click here to read the full article on Modern Healthcare.