Congress advances SGR repeal legislation

Today the House Committees on   Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means and the Senate Committee on Finance reached a bi-cameral, bi-partisan deal on legislation to repeal and replace the current Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. In addition to repealing the SGR, the proposed legislation provides for 0.5% annual fee schedule updates for five years during a transition period that integrates value-based programs into the Medicare physician payment system. There is still little information on how Congress might pay for the legislation, expected to cost in excess of $128 billion.  The cost is the largest political and practical hurdle to passage of this bill.