House panel votes to change Medicare funding approach

A key House panel unanimously approved a bill on Wednesday that would replace the formula that pays doctors for each service provided under Medicare with one that rewards providers for high-quality care — a measure that both sides of the political aisle praised as long overdue. The 51-0 vote by the Committee on Energy and Commerce sends the Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act to the full chamber. For years, lawmakers had been exploring ways to repeal the way physicians are paid under the health entitlement for seniors and replace it with a more predictable model that rewards the quality, and not the quantity, of care that doctors provide.