October 21, 2009

Earlier this week we informed you that Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) had introduced legislation known as the "Medicare Physicians Fairness Act" (S 1776) to repeal the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula currently used to establish annual Medicare physician payment updates. As you know, the results of using of this formula are deep payment cuts that Congress must avert each year. S 1776 does not set a new payment system, but instead resets the budget baseline that is the primary obstacle to Medicare physician payment reform. The debt that has accumulated in the SGR system because of the temporary payment fixes used in the past would be eliminated, which is consistent with President Obama's budget.

Passage of this bill is a necessary first step toward implementing a new system, which will be included as part of health system reform or other legislation. However, in order to create a new payment system, S 1776 must be enacted. Without providing a realistic baseline, payment reform is not possible. This is our best opportunity to eliminate the accumulated debt from fixing the annual payment cuts. Each year that Congress avoids a permanent fix for the SGR, it gets more expensive to replace the formula.

The Senate is scheduled to have three votes on S 1776 this afternoon (Wednesday, October 21st) that are critical to passage of this bill. In order to ensure that they receive your message before the first vote, please call your Senators as soon as possible to ask for their support for S 1776. Without a permanent solution to the flawed SGR formula, many physicians will be forced to stop seeing Medicare patients.

To identify your Senators, visit www.senate.gov and choose your state from the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner of the homepage. The direct numbers to contact each Senator's office will be listed. Talking points for your conversations are included below.

Talking Points

•    As a constituent, I urge you to support S 1776, the "Medicare Physicians Fairness Act"

•    This bill is a necessary first step in fixing the flawed payment system that results in annual payment cuts for physicians who treat Medicare patients

•    Without a permanent fix for this payment system, many physicians will be forced to stop seeing Medicare patients who are already worried about the stability of the program.

•    Please support S 1776 by voting "yes" on a cloture vote, "yes" on a vote to forgo pay go rules, and "yes" on S 1776. Thank you for your time.

For additional questions regarding S 1776, please contact Society staff Holly Whelan at hwhelan@endo-society.org.