Legislation to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula is emerging in the House of Representatives. On July 31st, the Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to pass H.R. 2810, the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013.   This is the culmination of more than two years of work involving members of both the Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, with feedback from healthcare providers.  The bill now advances to the full Ways and Means Committee;  the Senate Finance Committee is expected to produce its version in the fall.Summary of H.R. 2810In Phase I, “Stabilizing Fee Updates,” the bill would permanently repeal the SGR formula at the end of 2013 and replace it with fixed 0.5 percent updates to the Medicare Fee Schedule for each of the years 2014-2018.  The positive and negative adjustments or incentives available through the PQRS and EHR programs would...