Federal Budget Agreement Contains No SGR Adjustment

Congressional leaders and President Barack Obama announced an agreement that will keep the federal government operating through the first quarter of 2013, but the agreement does not include adjusting or repealing the sustainable growth-rate Medicare payment formula—which a new Congressional Budget Office analysis says will require a 27% cut in physician payments next year.

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Source: ModernHealthcare.com

Estimates of the SGR-driven Medicare payment cut have gone as high as 30%, and the CBO report analyzes several short-term options with price tags of $15.3 billion to $376.6 billion in additional spending between 2013 and 2022.