It is official. After 12 years $170 billion spent on 17 patches and countless hours of hard work, Congress has finally repealed the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and replaced it with a new Medicare physician payment system that makes sense for our profession. OPAC’s persistence on Capitol Hill is critical to the future of the profession. Contributions from our members allow OPAC to develop and maintain relationships with Members of Congress; which ultimately led to one of our greatest victories, the repeal of SGR.

OPAC elects and reelects Members of Congress who make a difference. Congressman Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX-26) made that difference by sponsoring H.R. 2: Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 which ultimately led to the repeal of SGR. By keeping our allies in office, we can accomplish extraordinary things and this was proven after H.R. 2 was signed into law.

The road to repeal was long and at times tumultuous, but in 2015 the profession stood up and did something about it. It started in late January when OPAC Contributor, Geraldine O’Shea, DO testified before Congress on the importance of Medicare physician payment reform. Her words clearly resonated as it resulted in a snowball of discussion on how Congress can come together on a bipartisan agreement to repeal SGR once and for all. By having a presence on Capitol Hill, Congress knew that they could trust in the osteopathic profession to deliver accurate and insightful information.

While this is a huge step forward, there is still much work to be done. OPAC fights on your behalf in order to keep our profession as leaders within health care.