Contents tagged with sgr
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Texas Family Physician - Vol. 67 No. 1, Winter 2016
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View the virtual issue
President’s letter
Perspective
CONTENTS
Texas Family Physician of the Year 2015-16: Antonio Falcon, MDBorn and bred in Rio Grande City, … more
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After the SGR: Alternative payment models
After the SGR: Alternative payment models
By Jim Walton, DO, MBA
Last year the much maligned sustainable growth rate cost control scheme used by The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was … more
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Texas Family Physician - Vol. 66 No. 3, Summer 2015
Go to the TFP archive
View the virtual issue
President’s letter
Perspective
CONTENTS
Inside the coverage gapTexas is the only state left with at least 20 percent of its population … more
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The brave new world of the SGR repeal
By Dale Ragle, MD
TAFP President, 2014-2015On April 16, 2015, President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which phases out Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate payment formula over the next 10 years. The so-called “doc fix” enjoyed bipartisan and bicameral support in Congress, a rare phenomenon these days, as well as support from most major medical organizations, including AAFP and the American Medical Association. In spite of broad support, the bill took more than a year of tweaking and survived innumerable negotiations between both political parties and the White House, a testament to the adage that “the devil is in the details.”
The SGR formula tied Medicare expenditures to the gross domestic product. Since demand and utilization of health care services do not rise and fall directly with the ebbs and flows of the general economy, the SGR often threatened to cut physician fees year after year. Perennially, Congress passed special legislation to delay the fee cuts, often only finding they have to repeat the action in the following year.
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Congress has until March 31 to pass Medicare SGR fix
Congress has until March 31 to pass Medicare SGR fix
By AAFP News Staff
As physicians rang in the new year, they had more reason than ever to hope for the repeal of the dysfunctional sustainable … more
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Congress works to repeal SGR as 24 percent Medicare rate cut looms
Congress works to repeal SGR as 24 percent Medicare rate cut looms
AAFP submits comments, recommendations on bipartisan, bicameral proposal
posted 11.21.13
Congress might be closer than ever to … more
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Congress averts fiscal cliff, staves off Medicare physician pay cut
Once again waiting until the last minute, Congress passed a bill on New Year’s Day that averts the fiscal cliff, delays sequestration provisions for two months, and staves off the 26.5 percent cut in Medicare physician pay for another year.
The fiscal cliff agreement increases revenue largely by targeting married couples earning more than $450,000 a year and single people earning more than $400,000 a year by raising rates for wages and investment profits, but shields those earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases, the Washington Post reports.
As TAFP reported in the weeks leading up to this agreement, Congress had to find roughly $30 billion to pay for a one-year patch to the sustainable growth rate formula and considered reversing the Medicaid primary care bonus to offset the cost. Modern Healthcare reports (free registration required) that cuts will come from other Medicare programs, most of which affect hospitals, pharmacies, and dialysis clinics. The primary care bonus appears to be intact.
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HHSC delays Medicaid fee increase for now
HHSC delays Medicaid fee increase for now
Organized medicine to Washington: Don’t reverse Medicaid bonus
posted 12.18.12
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has postponed the Medicaid … more
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Family physicians face uncertainty from SGR, budget deliberations
Clock ticking on Congress to act on Medicare SGR, federal budget
AAFP urges members to tell lawmakers to spare family medicine
posted 12.6.12
Family physicians once again face uncertainty … more
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Congress passes another one-month SGR reprieve
Congress passes another one-month SGR reprieve
posted 12.01.10
It’s official: Congress has approved a one-month extension of Medicare physician payment rates, once again postponing a double-digit … more