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Wednesday, 21 October 2009

NEWS – CONGRESSMAN PETE STARK 239 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-5065 www.stark.house.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, October 21, 2009 CONTACT: Brian Cook, (202) 225-3202 STARK STATEMENT ON PHYSICIAN PAYMENT REFORM WASHINGTON – Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, today released the following statement on the Senate's procedural vote that prevented consideration of legislation to permanently fix the physician payment formula in Medicare:   "I am disappointed that the Senate refused to consider legislation to correct a dishonest budgeting formula under current law that threatens the stability of Medicare with massive cuts to physician payments. “Those who objected to this effort because it was not paid for do not understand the problem that was created after years of Republican mismanagement.  The cuts projected under current law will never happen.  CMS actuaries have in the past admitted in their projections that they can’t even estimate the effects of the implementation of those cuts. "We must quit kicking the can down the road.  Adjusting the baseline in conjunction with health reform will allow us to change the physician payment system to more effectively control costs and promote coordinated, accountable care in the future." For more information on the budgeting gimmicks in the current Medicare physician payment formula, please visit: http://www.stark.house.gov/images/stories/111/legislation/AAHCA/rebasingthesgr.pdf # # #