Society joins nationwide grassroots effort urging permanent Medicare fix

The Wisconsin Medical Society is partnering with other state medical and specialty societies across the country as part of a grassroots effort urging Congress to fix the flawed Medicare physician payment formula permanently.

In this open letter sent to Congress April 8, Society Immediate Past President Robert Jaeger says, “Every year for a decade, physicians and other providers have faced steep cuts that jeopardize the ability to care for patients. You and your colleagues have recognized this glaring problem, but have not yet been willing to address it beyond a ‘kick the can’ approach. This year alone, Congress passed four temporary fixes—four kicks of the can—instead of crafting a needed, thoughtful, permanent solution. Your constituents—physicians AND patients—need more aggressive action. The SGR (Sustainable Growth Rate) was first created by the Congress; Congress can acknowledge the idea’s failure and wipe the slate clean.”

In addition to the open letter, the initiative—Stop the Medicare Meltdown—features a petition drive.

“Our goal is to gather 1 million signatures and deliver them to Congress to send a clear message: access to care for some of our most vulnerable citizens is in jeopardy unless Congress steps up to stop the Medicare Meltdown,” said Society Senior Vice President Tim Bartholow, MD, in this news release. “Medicare is the government’s largest health care program and these patients need to know their doctor will be there when they need them.”

The Society is encouraging physicians and patients across Wisconsin to join the grassroots effort to save Medicare by signing the online petition. Because of HIPAA regulations, physicians should not collect signatures from patients, so the Society has prepared an informational flyer about the campaign for physician offices. Download it here. The online petition is available here. Or download a pdf of the petition here.

If you have questions, contact Kendi Parvin (kendi.parvin@wismed.org) at 608.442.3748.