Senate committee explores future of Medicare physician payment

As a looming Medicare physician payment cut of nearly 30 percent threatens access to care for seniors and military families, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee began a bipartisan series of discussions last week examining the escalating Medicare physician payment crisis. These roundtable discussions, the first of which featured testimony from former administrators of the Medicare program, are intended to take a close look at the history of Medicare physician payment to better understand how to move forward. Last week also saw the introduction of a bill by Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Rep. Joe Heck, DO, R-Nev., that would replace the SGR with an interim payment schedule while new physician payment options are devised.