Fixing Medicare's physician payment system will receive attention from the House and Senate this week.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold an informal meeting of its members July 31st to discuss reforming Medicare's physician payment system, committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said in a notice to senators.

The committee has held several hearings on ways to reform Medicare's physician payment system, but has yet to produce a proposal. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to consider Medicare physician payment reform legislation July 31. Its health subcommittee approved the legislation (H.R. 2810) July 23.

The House plan has yet to receive a price tag, nor have committee leaders said how they would pay for it.

The Congressional Budget Office has said freezing physicians' Medicare reimbursement and preventing sustainable growth rate (SGR) related cuts for 10 years would cost $139 billion. That is about $100 billion less than previously estimated, and as a result, lawmakers and physician groups have said this year provides a rare opportunity to permanently fix the system at a lower cost.

Physicians' Medicare reimbursement will be reduced about 25 percent in January 2014 unless Congress acts.