House to vote on modified version of Senate Democrats' Medicare physician pay patch bill

The House on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on a modified version of Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus' (D-Mont.) legislation (S 3101) that would eliminate a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees scheduled for July 1, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, "If the House moves a bill, it will put pressure on Senate Democrats and Republicans to reach an accord."

The House measure is similar to Baucus' bill, delaying the fee reduction for 18 months and increasing payments by 1.1% in 2009, but it will be introduced as a new piece of legislation because Baucus' bill failed to pass in the Senate. The measure would "rework several elements of the Baucus bill to cut down on the overall cost," according to CQ Today. It would remove a $1.1 billion "Medicare Improvement Fund." It also would eliminate several provisions that would create bonus payments for physicians and other Medicare programs. The bill also includes provisions that would delay for one year a Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment and authorize $4 billion in spending over five years on beneficiary programs (Armstrong, CQ Today, 6/20). The measure also includes an electronic prescribing initiative and a provision to ensure pharmacies are paid promptly for drugs they distribute to beneficiaries (Edney, CongressDaily, 6/20).

House Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) indicated concerns regarding the bill's offsets, which could result in "at least a veto-sustaining number on our side" voting against the measure. The bill includes offsets that would reduce payments for indirect medical education under Medicare Advantage, require so-called private fee-for-service plans to form networks with health care providers and reduce payments to DME suppliers. The measure would not include additional reductions to power wheelchair and oxygen providers, as the Baucus bill did (CQ Today, 6/20). The bill also would impose levies on Medicare providers who are late in paying their taxes (CongressDaily, 6/20).

The House vote could be called off if the "Senate appears ready to move quickly and send over a compromise bill," according to CQ Today. Baucus has been in private meetings with Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to settle differences between his bill and Grassley's measure (S 3118), which failed to receive consideration (CQ Today, 6/20).