After years of legislative wrangling and last-minute patches, expectations are high among physician groups, lawmakers and Medicare beneficiaries that Congress could act by March 31st of this year to permanently replace the current Medicare physician payment formula. While committees in both chambers have approved their own "doc fix" proposals, the approaches have yet to be reconciled, and none have identified how they would pay for a repeal.
Kaiser Health News printed these frequently asked questions and answers about the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and how Congress may change it. It's one of the best explanations on the SGR I've read. If you have questions, I encourage you to check it out!
