Executive Director Comment: The 21% Medicare physician payment cut will take place on Monday, March 1, 2010. I am certain that come Tuesday next, we will see another in a long, sad line of congressional short-term, last-minute bandaids … to again postpone the systemic fix to the SGR that physicians and their patients must have. Please let your House representative and Senators Boxer and Feinstein know how incensed you are.
BACKGROUND
Yesterday (Thursday, February 25, 2010), the House passed HR 4691, legislation that extends a number of expiring programs for 30 days, including current Medicare physician payment rates, which would once again postpone the 21% cut that was scheduled to take effect this year.
The Senate attempted unsuccessfully on several occasions last night and this morning to pass the same bill by unanimous consent, but objections were raised by Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) [1] on the basis that the $10 billion cost of the program extensions was not offset. The Senate has now adjourned for the weekend, so the 21% Medicare physician payment cut will be effective on Monday, March 1, 2010.
We have been informed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that they are notifying their contractors to hold Medicare physician claims for 10 business days, effective Monday. The agency will also be sending out a similar message on its various list serves this afternoon to physicians, and contractors will be instructed to disseminate this information as well.
THREE ACTIONS TO TAKE:
- Express your outrage to Congress about its terrible mismanagement of the Medicare and TRICARE programs, which are so important to the health and wellbeing of Americans who have served our nation so long and so well. Tell Senators Feinstein and Boxer and your U.S. House representative (contact information below) that:
- The Medicare sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) must be repealed once and for all or Congress will permanently compromise seniors' access to care.
- Congress has had more than a year to repeal the Medicare payment formula and ensure the security and stability of the program. Instead, it has abandoned patients who rely on Medicare and TRICARE for their healthcare.
- Parliamentary procedures offer no excuse for the harm they are causing these programs.
- Tell SDCMS if you plan to make any changes in your practice as a direct result of this 21% cut. Email me at Gehring@SDCMS.org [2] or call me on my cell at (619) 206-8282.
- Get your patients involved. CMA has created a flier for you to hand to your patients to enlist them in our efforts to protect Medicare. Click here [3] to download the flyer now.
CONTACT SENATORS FEINSTEIN AND BOXER!
You may call (800) 833-6354 (AMA's Grassroots Action Center) and be in touch with the senators' offices in under 30 seconds, or you may call, fax, or email (via their websites) with the information below:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Click Here for Website/Email [4]
T: (202) 224-3841
F: (202) 228-3954
Sen. Barbara Boxer
Click Here for Website/Email [5]
T: (202) 224-3553
F: (202) 224-0454
CONTACT YOUR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE!
To find your U.S. House representative, click here [6]. You may call (800) 833-6354 (AMA's Grassroots Action Center) and be in touch with your congressional representative's office in under 30 seconds, or you may call, fax, or email (via their website) with the information below:
Rep. Darrell Issa
Click Here for Website/Email [7]
T: (202) 225-3906
F: (202) 225-3303
Rep. Brian Bilbray
Click Here for Website/Email [8]
T: (202) 225-0508
F: (202) 225-2558
Rep. Bob Filner
Click Here for Website/Email [9]
T: (202) 225-8045
F: (202) 225-9073
Rep. Duncan Hunter
Click Here for Website/Email [10]
T: (202) 225-5672
F: (202) 225-0235
Rep. Susan Davis
Click Here for Website/Email [11]
T: (202) 225-2040
F: (202) 225-2948
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
- Click here [12] to download CMA's news release (Word).
- Click here [13] to download J. Brennan Cassidy, MD's (CMA president), letter to California's physicians (PDF).
- Click here [14] to download J. Brennan Cassidy, MD's (CMA president), letter to California's physicians (Word).