HAD ENOUGH? LET’S IMPLEMENT PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR CONGRESS The recent health reform law provided an ideal opportunity for physicians to stand up to Congress and force an end to the long-conceded flawed Medicare reimbursement system and sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. However, now that health reform is passed and signed into law without SGR reform, it is business as usual regarding Medicare reimbursement. This week marked the fourth time just in 2010 alone that congressional action was required to prevent a scheduled Medicare reimbursement cut from going into effect. With each temporary freeze or incremental update, however, the debt from inaction of years’ past piles up and requires Congress to deal with preventing an even larger reimbursement cut. The SGR formula was originally designed to control costs and Medicare spending. However, the only accurate measure of the SGR formula is that it’s a good indicator of the lack of political fortitude for permanent reform. The GI community can no longer afford to be strung along each month as Medicare reimbursement remains in limbo and “quality of care reimbursement adjustments” lie in wait as health reform gets implemented. Enough is enough. We have an opportunity to provide leadership for our medical profession by enacting our own quality measures for Congress: the GIPAC Quality in Representation Initiative or GQRI. Similar to Medicare’s Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), let’s hold Congress to the same quality of care and performance standards as Congress and Medicare uses for physicians. We need to ensure that those in Congress are in fact those willing to provide the leadership that physicians and patients deserve. Please visit the GIPAC website and donate now! www.gipac.org Harry Sarles, Jr., MD, FACG President GIPAC GIPAC.org