Dear Member,

Representative John Dingell (D-MI) introduced the "Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009" (HR 3961) last week to overhaul the Sustainable Growth Rate, which is the flawed Medicare physician payment formula that results in the deep payment cuts that Congress must avert each year . The bill would replace the 21 percent cut scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2010 with a 1.2 percent increase. Starting in 2011, the bill would set two separate targets for the growth rate of Medicare physician expenditures. One target would cover all evaluation and management services and preventive services, and the second target would cover all other physician services. Yearly updates would likely differ for the two categories.

The House is expected to vote on the bill in the coming days, and your member of Congress needs to hear from you! Please call your Representative today and ask for their support of HR 3961. Without a permanent solution to the flawed SGR formula, many physicians will be forced to stop seeing Medicare patients.

To identify your Representative, visit http://www.house.gov/ and enter your zip code in the upper left hand corner of the homepage. Talking points for your conversations are included below. For questions about the Society's efforts to address the physician payment cuts, please contact Stephanie Kutler, Director of Government Affairs, at skutler@endo-society.org.  

•    As a constituent, I urge you to support HR 3961, the "Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009"

•    This bill is a necessary step in fixing the flawed payment system that results in annual payment cuts for physicians who treat Medicare patients

•    Without a permanent fix for this payment system, many physicians will be forced to stop seeing Medicare patients who are already worried about the stability of the program.

•    Please support HR 3961 to ensure that Medicare patients continue to have access to quality care. Thank you for your time.