MINNEAPOLIS, December 28, 2007 - President Bush signed a $555 billion omnibus spending bill Wednesday that gave doctors a six-month reprieve from a 10 percent cut that was scheduled to take effect January 1.

The bill funds a 0.5 percent Medicare payment increase for doctors that will expire in six months.

The measure's short timefram means Congress will have to revisit this issue this spring or else the previously scheduled 10 percent cut will occur July 1.

The bill also extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program through March 31, 2009, and provides adequate funding for the states to maintain current enrollment, according to the American Medical Association.

MMA President James J. Dehen, Jr., M.D., said that obviously, a 0.5 percent increase is better than a 10 percent cut, but once again Congress and the president have failed to fix the problem.

“They keep patching a flawed formula,” Dehen said. “While we are not going to scoff at a pay increase, it doesn't address the problem of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. Congress really needs to focus on fixing this formula.”

The AMA released a statement thanking Sens Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Max Baucus (D-Vt.), Chuck Grassley(R-Iowa) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) for ensuring passage of the six month reprieve, but also strongly urged Congress to break its habit of passing short term fixes.

The AARP, which has supported doctors in their efforts to stop the scheduled 10 percent cut, described the short-term fix for doctors as woefully inadequate, according to the Associated Press.

"Enactment of this legislation does little to protect millions of Medicare beneficiaries from higher monthly premiums and only temporarily averts the problems beneficiaries would face finding a physician if payment cuts take place," said David Sloane, AARP's director of government relations, according to the AP.

The AARP, the MMA, and the AMA had supported earlier proposals by the House Democrats to stop the cuts for up to two years by reducing Medicare Advantage subsidies to insurers. However, the Bush administration killed the proposal with a threat of a veto.

The bill pays for some of the small physician pay increase by trimming $1.5 billion from the stabilization fund for regional preferred provider organizations in 2012. This fund provides payments to some insurers who operate in underserved areas.

The bill also extends a provision that provides a 5 percent bonus payment to physicians practicing in physician shortage areas through June 30, 2008, and it would extend for six months the work geographic index (GPCI) floor through June 30, 2008, according to the AMA.