The AAFP has asked members of Congress to approve a 0.5 percent increase in the Medicare physician payment rate for the next 18 months to give lawmakers enough time to develop an alternative to the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula, which has triggered deep reductions in Medicare payment rates during the past several years.

In December, Congress passed a 0.5 percent increase in the Medicare physician payment rate for the first six months of 2008. Without congressional intervention, however, physicians face a 10.6 percent cut on July 1, followed by an additional 5 percent reduction in 2009.

During a series of meetings on Capitol Hill on Feb. 12 and 13, AAFP President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer, Tenn.; AAFP Board Chair Rick Kellerman, M.D., of Wichita, Kan.; AAFP President-elect Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho; and AAFP EVP Douglas Henley, M.D., , urged Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, to support an 18-month update and to use that time to work on a replacement for the SGR.

The AAFP leaders also met with staff members from several Senate offices, including those of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Jim Bunning, R-Ky.; John Kerry, D-Mass.; Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Ken Salazar, D-Colo.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

During each of the meetings, the AAFP explained the inherent flaws in the SGR formula and the formula's effect on family physicians. King and the other AAFP officers also laid out the benefits of the patient-centered medical home and cited reasons why the nation should adopt a primary care based system as the best way to save costs and improve quality.

The AAFP leaders also met with Academy members Kathleen Klink, M.D., of New York -- a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy fellow advising Sen. Hillary Clinton -- D-N.Y., and Dan Derksen, M.D., of Albuquerque, N.M. -- a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy fellow advising Sen. Bingaman -- to discuss ways to increase the physician primary care workforce.