In this last week of Congressional action in 2011, on Saturday it seemed as though Congress at the last second would approve a package funding the government into the next year, and in a parallel last-minute decision, the payroll tax cut extension and the SGRrrr (the un-Sustainable Growth Rate Medicare physician payment formula expressed as a growl) seemed to have been saved by the U.S. Senate for two months (through February 2012).

But unbelievably this afternoon the House rejected the two-month extension since they want a longer extension instead. The Senate has already adjourned for the holidays and it is unlikely an alternative resolution to prevent the pending SGR cuts will be resolved before the Jan. 1 deadline. This is a clear failure by Congress and its impacts will be felt by practices and patients as we head into the new year. Once again physician practices are subjected to financial uncertainty and disruption of business. Most importantly patients' access to life-saving quality health care is on the line.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that if Congress hasn’t acted by the start of the new year it will hold claims until Jan. 17 before they start the automatic Medicare payment cuts.

This circus has played itself out. We are in serious trouble if both parties are unable to abandon partisanship to seek a middle ground to solve the huge problems and risks we face. We’re certainly not the shining example of how democracy should responsibly function for Egypt to emulate, or for mentoring any emerging democratic nation. Our Congress is currently broken. We need the next generation of leaders to work on fixing this never-ending SGR ping pong match.

< Back to Listings