Last night history was made when the US Senate repealed the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula with passage of H.R. 2, the “Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act,” or MACRA. The Senate passed bill was identical to the version that passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming 392-37 margin on March 26. Now the legislation is with President Obama, who has indicated he will sign it into law.
The passage of this bill marks the conclusion of nearly two decades of frustration with the formula, which most everyone agreed was broken. For years, Congress would annually defer the scheduled reductions in Medicare payments because they could not agree on how to offset the cuts to pay for a permanent fix.
This historic passage would not have been possible without your efforts in reaching out to your Senators and Representatives to let them know how this broken system affected you and your practice. Please call or write to thank them for supporting you with their vote.
While the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) worked diligently over the years mobilizing our membership and making repeated visits to Washington, D.C. to lobby our Congressional representatives to repeal the SGR, the ultimate result would not have been possible without the extraordinary efforts of the AMA’s Senior Vice President for Advocacy Richard Deem and his lobbying team.
The NCMS staff is busy analyzing the law and its many new provisions and what they will mean to you. Watch your email and the Bulletin for more information in the weeks and months ahead.
