The 27 percent Medicare physician pay cut slated to hit March 1 has been stopped, as an agreement was reached early today by the joint House and Senate committee formed to negotiate an extension to the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011. The temporary extension is paid for in part by requiring new federal employees to contribute a larger amount to their retirement accounts. The agreement now moves to the full House and Senate for quick action before going to the president for his signature. The Academy is pleased that the cut has been stopped, but disappointed that Congress did not use this opportunity to permanently repeal the faulty sustainable growth rate formula used to calculate Medicare physician pay. The Academy will continue to push for a permanent solution to the SGR formula during the ten-month reprieve.

For more information, contact the Academy's Governmental Affairs Office at 202.737.6662.