The following is the text of the H.R.2 - Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 legislation, which repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate formula for Medicare reimbursement and strengthens Medicare access by improving physician payments as well as improving additional elements within the Medicare program. The bill also reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program and extends funding for community health centers, the National Health Service Corps, and teaching health centers. Click the link below for the full text of the bill.
The legislation Congress passed permanently repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate dramatically alters Medicare's physician payment model. This new payment system takes a dramatic step toward rewarding providers for the quality and efficiency of care that they provide. It also is packed with complexity.
To make it easier to understand the new system, [Eric Cragun] and team mapped out the various pieces in a few ready-to-use slides. You can download copies below to share or incorporate into your slide decks, or you can view the slides virtually.
Tonight, in a bipartisan vote of 92-8, the U.S. Senate passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which will extend funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), renew the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV), and permanently repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula to avoid annual cuts to Medicare payments. The Senate’s action follows a recent vote of 392-37 in the U.S. House of Representatives, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature.
As policy makers and others seek to reduce health care cost growth while improving health care quality, one approach gaining momentum is fee-for-value reimbursement. This payment strategy maintains the traditional fee-for-service arrangement but includes quality and spending incentives. We examined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Physician Group Incentive Program, which uses a fee-for-value approach focused on primary care physicians. We analyzed the program’s impact on quality and spending from 2008 to 2011 for over three million beneficiaries in over 11,000 physician practices.
Dear Representatives Burgess, Upton, Pallone, Ryan, and Levin: On behalf of the American Osteopathic Association and the 110,000 osteopathic physicians and osteopathic medical students we represent, I would like to thank you for introducing H.R. 2, the "Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA)," and express our strong support for the legislation. As well, I respectfully urge its swift approval by the House before the current Medicare payment fix expires in only six short days.
Prepared by the House Committees on Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means *This summary does not include provisions in H.R.4015/S.2000 that were passed as part of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014.
This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on March 12, 2015, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole. The text of the bill below is as of Mar 12, 2015 (Introduced).
The American College of Physicians (ACP) prepared this guide to serve as an ongoing resource for members of Congress and their staff, the news media, and other interested persons on the top health care issues affecting our members and their patients:
Executive Summary: March 2015 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) releases its March 2015 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP at a time of critical change for both of these programs.
Arkansas, Minnesota, Oregon, and Vermont are at the forefront of state efforts to coordinate value-based payment approaches across multiple public and private payers. Each is deploying some combination of payment and delivery system redesign that includes episode-based payment, patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), and total cost of care arrangements among its Medicaid, Medicare, and commercially insured populations.
