"House lawmakers late Thursday released the final draft of a bill that repeals Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) payment formula and replaces it with a system that incentivizes quality and efficiency starting in 2019. The bipartisan measure provides 5 years of stable Medicare payments starting next year, with reimbursements growing 0.5% for each year between then and 2018, according to the 70-page, yet-to-be-named bill. After those 5 years, physicians would be subject to having reimbursements based on performance on quality measures, or may opt out of that requirement if they practice in certain alternative payment models."  MORE >>