The National Commission on Physician Payment Reform was created by the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) to assess how physicians are paid, and how pay incentives are linked to patient care. The independent commission is comprised of physicians from a wide range of medical specialties, representatives from health care, insurance, a state health department, health policy leaders and a consumer representative. The Commission is funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Healthcare Foundation.
Over a year of deliberation, the Commission assessed payment and delivery models in place, efforts to incorporate quality into the current pay system, and the opportunities and risks of the coming payment configurations in the Affordable Care Act, including:
- Accountable care organizations (ACOs)
- Patient-centered medical homes
- Value-based purchasing
On March 4, 2013, the Commission issued a report and recommendations on how to reform the physician payment system in an effort to rein in health care costs and optimize outcomes for patients. SGIM endorsed the full report on March 15, 2013 - view the press release here.
What are the 12 recommendations from the report? Click here to find out.
September 24, 2014: an op-ed on the SGR Fix, written by former Sentor Bill Frist and Steven Schroeder, MD was published today in The Hill. Read the full text here.