Feb. 21 marks 11 years since the first Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) patch was passed into law. Unfortunately, the medical community is still battling to permanently repeal the flawed formula and replace it with a new Medicare payment system that rewards high quality, evidence-based care. "To date, Congress has spent $153.7 billion on all 16 previous SGR patches, far more than the cost of permanently reforming the Medicare physician payment system," said American Medical Association (AMA) President Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, in a statement. With the House and Senate recently advancing a bill that would eliminate the SGR, we’re closer than ever to a permanent solution. However, passage of the legislation is not a done deal and another temporary patch is still a possibility. "This bipartisan agreement represents a rare opportunity to finally eliminate the SGR and discontinue the fiscally irresponsible series of short-term legislative patches,” said ACC President John Gordon Harold, MD, MACC. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to complete work on permanent SGR repeal.

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