Finance Committee Focuses on Physician Payment
By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: September 30, 2009

WASHINGTON — A GOP amendment that would pay rural doctors more money passed by unanimous consent during Tuesday evening’s Senate Finance Committee markup.

The amendment, sponsored by ranking Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, would adjust the Geographic Practice Cost Index, or GPCI, helping to level the current payment differential between physicians in rural and urban areas for the same procedures.

The GPCI is part of the formula used by CMS to determine physician payments and reflects regional differences in practice costs, such as rent and employee wages.

“It’s getting harder and harder for seniors to find doctors serving in rural areas,” Grassley said in a prepared statement. “Part of the problem is Medicare payment policies that shortchange rural states. It’s a question of fairness and accuracy to fix the problem of rural physicians getting paid less for performing the same procedures than doctors in other areas.”

The amendment would not take money away from physicians practicing in urban areas.

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