On December 13, 2011, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011, a wide-ranging bill making payroll tax, unemployment insurance, energy, and other policy changes. Among many other things, the bill would avert a scheduled 27.4% cut in Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) payments in 2012 under the statutory Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and instead provide for a 1% payment update in 2012 and 2013. The costs of the MPFS fix would be offset through a variety of health care policy changes, including reducing funding for the ACA prevention and public health fund and ACA insurance subsidies, cutting Medicare reimbursement for hospital outpatient evaluation and management office visit services; reducing bad debt reimbursement, and rebasing Medicaid disproportionate share hospital allotments. The legislation also would extend: the Medicare outpatient therapy cap exceptions process; certain ambulance add-on payments; the floor used in the physician work geographic adjustment; the Qualified Individual program that reimburses states for certain Part B premiums; and the Transitional Medical Assistance program. In addition, the bill would relax certain restrictions on the expansion of physician-owned hospitals. The measure also would increase Medicare Part B and D premiums for higher-income beneficiaries beginning in 2017.  Note that the Senate is not expected to approve the House bill, and President Obama has announced that he would veto the bill if it does reach his desk. While Congress ultimately is expected to pass an SGR fix, the scope and timing of any such bill is uncertain at this time.