Mere hours after the Senate pulled off a last-minute repeal of the long-problematic Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, panelists at a forum hosted by the National Coalition on Health Care made it clear that while the “doc fix” bill represents a major step forward, it is only one piece of the healthcare reform puzzle.

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April 15, 2015 — The U.S. Senate on April 14 passed legislation that permanently repeals Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula in a final vote of 92 to 8, just hours before a 21% cut in physician payments under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule would have been implemented.

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New CMS report casts doubt on long-term value of doc fix legislation.  The Senate is expected today to take up several amendments to a bill that includes a provision to permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), a measure passed late last month by the House. However, a new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services adds to the chorus of reservations in recent weeks about the agreement hailed as a rare bipartisan solution.

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After a permanent repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula passed the House of Representatives in late March, the measure’s backers in the Senate work to quell a potential revolt from Senate conservatives over its initial $214 billion price tag, according to Reuters. 

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