Congress Floats Plan to Fix Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

Primary care groups had lobbied Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) for a pay-for-performance bill that would provide positive updates to Medicare's physician fee schedule, as well as reverse cuts that would otherwise occur under the SGR.

If any language from Grassley-Baucus is approved, “it will probably be inserted into end of the year must-pass legislation,” Ms. Johnson said. Standing alone, the bill is too risky on the Senate floor because it would give Democrats an opportunity to reopen the Medicare Modernization Act. “The Republicans don't want that.”