Tim Walz (Medicare Payments)

6.18.09: Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, reforming Medicare payment formulas that pay for quality and value is one of the changes that must be part of any discussion on health care reform.

The Congressional Budget Office recognizes the problem with Medicare paying physicians on a simple fee-for-service schedule, regardless of the quality of care they provide. This means that we pay doctors for doing more tests and more treatments, instead of paying for the right tests and right treatments.

In my home district, the Mayo Clinic is a model practice of providing high-quality care at low prices. But because of the way Medicare payments are figured today, the Mayo Clinic and others like them are penalized.

If we are to truly reform our health care system, we must reward those that save money and, at the same time, provide the highest quality care. This can be done by creating a value index within the formula in computing Medicare physician fees.

I urge my colleagues to support it.

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