[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15618]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES

  (Mr. WALZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  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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