Congress overrides White House veto of physician payment bill

July 15, 2008 Congress overrides White House veto of physician payment bill H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Bush vetoed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 Tuesday, giving the green light to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to start processing physician payment claims with a 10.6% cut. But backers of the legislation rapidly orchestrated a response in the House and Senate to override the veto later in the day. The override vote of 383 to 41 in the House and 70 to 26 in the Senate surpassed the original tally. HR 6331 repeals the physician payment cut scheduled by CMS's Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which was to become effective July 1 but had been on hold following CMS's response to Congressional action. The bill also includes an accreditation requirement for providers of advanced diagnostic imaging services and an Appropriateness Criteria demonstration program.

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