Grassley Announces Medicare Physician Payments Hearing

WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced a hearing titled “Medicare Physician Payment Reform After Two Years: Examining MACRA Implementation and the Road Ahead” to be held next Wednesday, May 8, 2019.

 

The hearing will examine the historic Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015 and assess how well that reform legislation is meeting its goals of improving quality of care and value for taxpayers.

 

The committee will hear directly from physicians who have participated in the MACRA changes and an academic expert to understand which reforms have been successful and which can be further improved.

 

“I was pleased to support MACRA in 2015. It ended the perpetual cycle of Congress temporarily heading off cuts to Medicare payments to physicians under the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate system, and serves as proof that Congress can tackle big challenges in a bipartisan way. The legislation also reformed how Medicare pays by establishing incentives to reward physicians for providing the best possible care to seniors. This hearing will give senators a chance to hear about how those incentives have been implemented and how well they’re working. Hearing from physicians on the front lines of providing care will be especially helpful in determining what else Congress can do to achieve MACRA’s goals,” Grassley said.

 

Full text of the hearing notice follows.

 

Public Hearing

Notice

May 1, 2019

 

The Chairman wishes to inform Members that the Committee on Finance will meet on Wednesday, May 8, 2019, at 10:15 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on “Medicare Physician Payment Reform After Two Years: Examining MACRA Implementation and the Road Ahead.”

      

The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:

 

    Barbara L. McAneny, MD, President, American Medical Association, Chicago, IL

 

    John Cullen, MD, FAAFP, President, American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, KS

 

    Frank Opelka, MD, FACS, Medical Director for Quality and Health Policy, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL

 

    Scott Hines, MD, Director, American Medical Group Association, Alexandria, VA

 

    Matthew Fiedler, PhD, Fellow, USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC

 

The Chairman urges every Member to attend.

 

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