HR 3961 SGR Fix; One Hurdle Down, Two Remaining
U.S. House of Representatives passes SGR fix
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed H.R. 3961, the “Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009” by a vote of 243-183. The legislation would permanently repeal the unworkable Sustainable Growth Rate formula (SGR) and create a path for future positive updates. Without SGR reform this year, anesthesiologists and all other physicians face a 21 percent Medicare payment cut beginning Jan. 1, 2010, with additional cuts projected in future years. H.R. 3961 would eliminate such SGR reductions to Medicare physician payments. Instead, the bill would create a new physician payment formula with two buckets that would:
- Allow the volume of most services to grow at the rate of GDP plus 1 percentage point per year
- Allow the volume of primary and preventive care services to grow at GDP plus 2 percent per year
H.R. 3961 would also remove drugs and laboratory services not paid directly to practitioners from spending targets. For the bill to continue moving through the legislative process, it must receive consideration by the U.S. Senate. Contact you Senators to make sure they know where you stand on this bill. Once the Senate has approved the bill it will then require a signature from the President.
Top Paying Jobs List Anesthesiologists #1
#1 anesthesiologist take home a median $292,000 salary annually.
The high pay for anesthesiologist reflects inherent stress in a job that is literally about life and death. “anesthesiologist get patients safely and intact through operations while surgeons do things that would otherwise kill them,” says Roger Moore, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The big salaries are also a payback for the 12-plus years of training required before an anesthesiologist can start practicing. By Beth Braverman and Alexis Jeffries
#4 Nurse Anesthetist take home a median $157,000 salary annually.
Like the anesthesiologist to whom they report, nurse anesthetists get paid to never make a mistake. Anesthesia mortality rates have fallen from two deaths per 10,000 in the 1980s to 1 per 200,000 today. That means nurse anesthetists must be at the top of their game, even when working a 2 a.m. shift or staffing the ER on New Year’s Eve.
