HOUSE GOP PROPOSE SGR OFFSETS

As previously rumored, the House Republicans have released details of their budget, the “Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act of 2011,” which includes a 1% Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) increase.  The American Medical Group Association sent out an email informing members of the House Republicans’ proposals to offset the cost of the SGR increase, which include:

● Evaluation and Management (E&M) payment cuts to Hospital outpatient departments to parity with doctor office payments ($6.8 billion)
● Reductions in bad debt payments to hospitals (70%, then 55%, over 3 years–$10.6 billion)
● Rebasing Medicaid disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) allotments for FY 2021 ($4.1 billion)
● Changing Health Information Exchange subsidies ($13.4 billion)
● Reductions to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Prevention & Public Health Fund ($8 billion)
● Medicare means testing to be used to offset the extension of unemployment insurance portion of the bill ($31 billion)
● Changes to relax the ACA specialty hospital provisions ($800 million)

You can read the House Republicans’ bill here and details of the health offsets in the bill here.