The SGR issue needs to get handled before Congress recesses for 2009. As you recall, the House has sent a bill (HR 3961) to do a 10-year solution on the SGRrrr*. The Senate, meanwhile, was unwilling to do the same (too much money or too much addition to the national debt to write it off). But, they need to offset the 21 percent cuts for SGR immediately, too. Therefore, we had a meeting this week with Wendell Primus, senior budget and health policy advisor to Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) to discuss health care reform legislation and, in particular, the SGRrrr. It appears the House doesn't want to give the Senate a pass but instead will demand a one- to two-month "bridge" update for the SGR. 

What does that mean? A bridge is a 2- or 3-month temporary funded extension of the SGR that will force the Senate to vote on funding it again by March 2010 and to consider a long-term fix again. That’s risky, but it looks like that’s what they’ll likely do. 

* The SGR or Sustainable Growth Rate payment formula is such a frustration for so long I include a growl version of it as the "SGRrrr."

*** Image from Flickr (Charles P.) *** 

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