In a significant victory for physician group practices and MGMA, late last night the Senate voted (92-8) to approve the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, H.R. 2. This legislation, which passed the House of Representatives on March 26, permanently repeals the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. President Obama publicly stated that he will sign the bill into law.

Permanent repeal of the SGR has been a top priority of MGMA’s advocacy efforts. We thank our members for their critical grassroots support in getting this legislation passed.

MGMA president and chief executive officer Halee Fischer-Wright, MD, MMM, FAAP, released the following statement:

“This is a historic day–the dark cloud over physician group practices has been lifted. The Senate vote to permanently repeal the SGR returns stability to physicians and Medicare patients alike. MGMA congratulates Congress on this momentous, bipartisan achievement.”