It appears that half of the problem with the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) has now been resolved.  Both the House and the Senate have agreed that there will be an annual update of .5% from 2014 through 2018.  The payment rates from 2018 would be maintained through 2023 during which times physicians could receive additional payments through a merit based incentive payment system.

As that incentive payment system is defined, we will be discussing it in light of the fact that it may be nothing more than an attempt to shift the risk of the noncompliant patient from the Medicare program to the physician.

The final stumbling blocks, however, to the resolution of the SGR issue, which will cost approximately $126 billion over 10 years, is how that cost will be covered.  Before the proposed SGR solution is implemented, the issue of its costs needs to be resolved.