Videos posted on YouTube are helping to emphasize the urgency to repeal Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula that is used to set physician reimbursements. The AMA released the videos as the March 1 deadline approaches for Congress to prevent a more than 27 percent cut in Medicare physician payments.

The videos—one geared toward Congress and the other toward seniors—warn that temporary patches to the SGR threaten access to care and choice of physician for seniors while increasing the taxpayer burden. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that it will cost $298 billion to fix the SGR, with the cost continuing to rise as long as Congress continues to apply only temporary patches. The AMA projects that the cost will rise to $320 billion if Congress does not act in 2012.

As reported in the Bulletin last week, the NCMS has joined other physician organizations in calling on Congress to repeal the SGR by using excesses from Overseas Contingency Operations (no longer needed for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). See Physician Organizations Propose Offset for Congress to Repeal SGR.

NCMS urges you to please take a moment to send an e-mail to your Senators and Congressman to let them know that it is time to fix the broken SGR. We need a permanent fix.

CapWiz call for action here. Contact your legislators today.