Health overhaul includes Cantwell Medicare measure

WASHINGTON — A health-care overhaul bill authored by Sen. Maria Cantwell would change the way doctors serving Medicare patients are paid.

The Washington Democrat said the measure would reward doctors for providing high quality care. The current Medicare system penalizes Washington and other states by rewarding quantity of medical services performed rather than quality, Cantwell said.

Officials in Washington, Minnesota and other states have long complained that Medicare's complex reimbursement formula has the unintended effect of punishing doctors for providing cost-effective care because it means they received lower payments.

"For too long, Washington state has blazed a trail providing coordinated, high-quality care for thousands of patients," Cantwell said Tuesday.

Including the Medicare proposal in the health-care overhaul being considered by the Senate Finance Committee "is a huge win for Washington state, and it finally puts the patient first rather than putting the focus on how physicians get paid," Cantwell said.

Montana Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Finance panel, agreed to include the Medicare measure Tuesday in the health-care overhaul the committee considering. Cantwell is a member of the panel.

Cantwell and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and 26 other senators sent a letter last week to President Barack Obama urging the Medicare change. The letter was signed by 21 Democrats, six Republicans and independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. All six senators in Washington, Oregon and Idaho signed the letter.

The revised Finance bill should help control costs and get the most from money spent on health care, Klobuchar said in a statement. "This will strengthen the strong safety net of Medicare by ensuring funds are there to pay for our seniors' health care," she said.

Cantwell and Klobuchar said Medicare wastes about $100 billion a year, in part, because of incentives in the Medicare physician payment structure. The amendment added to the Finance bill provides incentives to doctors to work toward the best outcomes, instead of paying them for ordering more services and spending more money, Cantwell said.

Even if approved by the full Senate, the Medicare language would have to be reconciled with a House health-care bill that does not include the provision.