According to a post on the North American Spine Society's Spine on the Hill, the potential for government shut down and other battles on Capitol Hill could impact spine surgeons across the country.
Here is what spine surgeons should know about healthcare reform going forward:
1. After the House of Representatives sent over a Continuing Resolution that would fund the government for a few more months, but defund the Affordable Care Act, the Senate is expected to pass a bill without the provision to defund the ACA, possibly this weekend.
2. The House has released an outline of areas that it would use as bargaining chips to raise the debt limit — which includes delaying ACA for a year — but does not address sustainable growth rate repeal. SGR repeal may be addressed for an end-of-the-year budget compromise, according to the report, and the House Majority leaders' staff representatives "reassured NASS that the SGR is still in the topic of serious discussions and a one-year SGR patch is not even being discussed at the moment."
3. While most anticipate legislators will avoid a government shutdown, as they have done continuously over the past few years, but if it does occur the shutdown will likely last five to seven days. NASS reported in the blog post it doesn't expect disruption in physician reimbursement from Medicare. However, if the shutdown is extended delays are possible.
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