SGR

Two influential committees with jurisdiction over Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula said they are targeting an August date for completing committee work on a replacement bill. The news comes amid some concern that the House Ways & Means and House Energy & Commerce Committees were no longer in sync on a path forward to replace the SGR.

The Department of Health and Human Services today released its 2014 budget, providing $80.1 billion in discretionary funding, $3.9 billion above the 2012 enacted level. HHS said the budget continues to invest in Affordable Care Act implementation, medical research, mental health services, and Head Start, yet savings are achieved through trade-offs such as the elimination of the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, and reductions in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Community Services Block Grant.

As the clock counts down to the so-called “fiscal cliff,” the negotiations between the White House and congressional Republicans reveal just how vulnerable healthcare providers are to potential reimbursement cuts and added policy mandates, as the federal government lurches forward to resolve many unresolved budget and healthcare policy issues

The headline for the ONC’s new proposed rule standards and certification criteria for EHRs 2014 edition, which was rolled out at HIMSS this year, has been all about flexibility. The ONC has envisioned the new certification criteria also giving clearer definitions of certification requirements, promoting progress toward interoperability, and reducing regulatory burden.

Among the most dramatic findings of an MGMA member survey from this summer: among 2,860 groups representing 63,000 physicians in practice, based on the prospect of a 23.6 percent cut scheduled for December 1 in Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR), and an additional 6.5-percent cut scheduled for January 1, medical groups plan drastic changes.