The annual caterwauling about Medicare physician reimbursement has begun.
For those who just want the takeaway – there very likely won’t be any substantive, long-term “fix”, but rather another temporary – and very slight – increase in reimbursement.
The latest version of Congress is arguing back and forth about what to do to address the Sustainable Growth Rate or SGR, with the GOP sharply divided and more liberal Dems objecting to any fix that will require seniors to pay more for their Medicare.
What’s going to prevent a longer-term fix is simple; by not doing a long-term fix and thereby kicking the can down the road, Congress doesn’t have to recognize – and deal with – a big addition to the federal deficit.
Well, that and the normal inability of Congress to do anything at all.
Lest you think this is new, it has been going on for over a decade; here’s more detail – just in case you want to be the center of attention at your next cocktail party…
The Medicare SGR formula/process was first implemented in 2000, intended to establish an annual budget for Medicare’s physician expenses and thereby better control what had been steadily increasing costs. Each year, if the total amount spent on physician care by Medicare exceeded a cap, the reimbursement rate per procedure for the following year would be adjusted downward.
And for thirteen of the last fourteen years, reimbursement – according to SGR – should have been cut, but each year (except 2002) it was actually increased, albeit marginally. Because Congress didn’t fix the problem, each year the difference between what Medicare was supposed to spend on docs and what Medicare actually spent was added to an off-the-books deficit.
The result is a deficit that is now about 210 billion dollars, a deficit that we’re carrying on our books. Don’t blame CMS, blame Congress.
The reason the deficit is still there, and still growing, is simple – fixing SGR permanently will require acknowledging the deficit and thereby adding it to the total debt.
As we discussed a while back, not fixing SGR may well be worse, as it is a fatally flawed cost containment “approach”. The SGR attempts to use price to control cost. The complete failure of the SGR approach to control cost is patently obvious as utilization continues to grow at rapid rates. This was a problem seven years ago, and its done nothing but get worse. Not only does the SGR approach contribute to cost growth, it also ‘values’ procedures – doing stuff to patients – more than primary care.
It’s not quite that straight forward, but pretty close. For those who want way more detail, read this.
What does this mean for you?
For readers in the work comp world, any change to Medicare’s fee schedule will eventually affect many state work comp fee schedules – but this is by no means straightforward.
