Phase out SGR with value- based models, ACP says

Although the Congressional Budget Office recently downgraded the 10-year cost of repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) to $138 billion, the American College of Physicians (ACP) took to the Hill advocating a phased approach to repealing it and moving to value-based models.

In testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee, Charles Cutler, MD, FACP, chairman of the ACP Board of Regents, said that a proposal developed by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) is a “bold plan for Medicare payment reform that holds the promise of breaking a decade-long impasse on repeal of the Medicare SGR.”

Some of the other ACP recommendations:

- Establish positive baseline updates, with an increase for evaluation and management services, for 5 years.

- Starting in 2014, allow physicians to qualify for more value-based payment allowances.

- PCMH-recognized practices should qualify for a graduated incentive program.