Endocrine Insider
April 17, 2008

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) held a meeting on April 11, 2008, with The Endocrine Society and other physician groups to outline a proposed package to delay the 10-percent cut to Medicare physician payments scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2008. The package would delay cuts for 18 months, and potentially would increase payments by 1.1 percent. However, unless Congress steps in at the end of the 18 months, physician payments will be cut by 21 percent in 2010. Senator Baucus assured the group that such drastic cuts will not happen, although this will require Congress to pass a temporary fix once again or address the Medicare physician payment funding mechanism more broadly. To avoid further cuts, the legislation will likely be debated in the Senate in May in advance of the June 30 deadline. Endocrine Society staff will continue to update you on the progress of this legislation, as well as any changes in proposed physician payment through 2008 and 2009.