A Congressional proposal to repeal the much-hated Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and replace it with a system that rewards providers for high-quality care would cost the federal government $175 billion by 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Taking into account the effect of the automatic 0.5 percent annual update that would begin in 2014, CBO estimates enacting the Quality Update Incentive Program and alternative payment model mechanisms would increase direct spending by about $112 billion over the 2019-2023 period. That increase, in combination with the $63.5 billion cost of the automatic updates during the 2014-2018 period, would result in a total increase in direct spending of $175.5 billion over the 2014-2023 period, the CBO said. – read the full report from FierceHealthcare