The Academy, along with a coalition of nearly 70 national and state medical associations, is increasing pressure on Congress for a permanent Medicare physician pay fix. The coalition is stressing that now is the time to permanently repeal Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula (SGR). The joint U.S. House and Senate committee created to extend the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 met for the first time Tuesday to consider extending the legislation, which provided a two-month SGR fix that expires Feb. 29.

Physicians participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2011 Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program have until Feb. 29 to submit their "meaningful use" data.

The 27 percent Medicare physician pay cut slated to hit March 1 has been stopped, as an agreement was reached on February 16, by the joint House and Senate committee formed to negotiate an extension to the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011.

A proposed rule released today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services includes criteria that will allow ophthalmologists to continue to succeed in the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program. The rule defines the second stage of “meaningful-use” requirements of an EHR system that physicians must demonstrate to qualify for the Medicare incentive. Meaningful use is defined in stages, with each stage requiring more-advanced use of EHR technology.