Senate passed SGR patch and ICD-10 One Year Delay

The Senate passed legislation (H.R. 4302), which delays for one year a 24% cut to Medicare physician payments resulting from the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The legislation also pushed the ICD-10 compliance deadline to October 1, 2015. The SGR legislation provisions were:

• Extends  the 1.0 work Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) floor and therapy cap exceptions process for one year
• Delays the transition to ICD-10 for at least one year
• Creates new Medicare policies for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests
• Puts in place “appropriate use” criteria for certain imaging services
• Creates a new process for identifying “misvalued codes” in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

For more information, access the legislation available here.