The bill, which will be signed by the President to avert the “fiscal cliff”, also extends the 2012 geographic adjustments for physician payments through the end of 2013.
To pay for the $30 billion that would have been garnered from the SGR cuts, Congress will cut payments to hospitals, among other measures. The bill lowers the “disproportionate share” of payments to facilities that care for poor populations and inpatient stays, according to the report.
The 26.5 percent SGR cut and subsequent Medicare sequestration would have forced medical practitioners to cut down significantly on Medicare patients or forced physicians to treat patients for a fraction of what they are currently reimbursed.
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