ACP: Governmental Affairs and Public Policy - ACP Supports Sense of the Senate Amendment to FY 2005 Budget Mark for the FY 2005 Congressional Budget

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ACP Supports Sense of the Senate Amendment to FY 2005 Budget Mark for the FY 2005 Congressional Budget

This letter was sent to the entire Senate Budget Committee

March 3, 2003

The Honorable Don Nickles
Chairman, Senate Budget Committee
United States Senate
624 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

RE: Sense of the Senate Amendment to FY 2005 Budget Mark to return stability to Medicare payments under the Physician Fee Schedule

Dear Chairman Nickles:

On behalf of the American College of Physicians (ACP), representing over 115,000 internal medicine physicians and medical students, we are writing to express support for an amendment to the Senate Budget Committee Chairman's mark for the FY 2005 congressional budget. ACP understands that an amendment will be offered by Senator Jim Bunning that expresses the Sense of the Senate that action by Congress is urgently needed to reform the formula used to update physician fees for the Medicare program. We thank Senator Bunning, and wholeheartedly support this amendment. We strongly urge all members of the committee to vote for the amendment during the markup.

There are fundamental flaws in the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula that require a permanent solution. Such a solution should create an update formula that better reflects increases in the costs of providing services, allows for increased utilization of services due to new and beneficial services being added to the Medicare program, and increases predictability by reducing wide swings in the annual amount of payment updates. As you know, if the flawed SGR formula is not permanently repaired, physicians will be put in the position of continually asking Congress to intervene to stabilize payments to physicians under the Medicare program.

Medicare payment cuts to physicians have the potential to further erode the difficult economic conditions faced by many physicians, including doctors of internal medicine, who treat more Medicare patients than any other medical specialty. This resolution recognizes that Congress has a responsibility to ensure that physicians are able to continue to treat Medicare patients. Again, we strongly urge the committee to support this important amendment that expresses a commitment by the Senate to address the flawed SGR formula and ensure the long-term stability of the Medicare payment system for physicians and the Medicare patients that we serve.

Sincerely,

Munsey S. Wheby, MD, FACP
President

Page posted: 03/4/2004