The President signed HR 4691 into law late Tuesday, March 2, which contained a one-month stopgap provision  to override the 21% Medicare rate cut called for by the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. Under this bill, the Medicare conversion factor update is set at 0% through March 31, 2010. Your NCMS President, Doug Sheets, MD, and Executive Vice President/CEO Bob Seligson have been in Washington, DC this week lobbying for a permanent solution to the perennial SGR problem. Organized medicine supports legislation to permanently replace SGR with a more realistic approach to Medicare payment updates.