Modern Healthcare (complimentary online subscription): With time running out to create a permanent solution to Medicare's sustainable growth-rate formula, the prospect of using war savings as a means to that end grew more unlikely Thursday.

At a news conference in the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner said members of the conference committee on the payroll tax bill that includes a provision for the SGR “need to get moving.” Boehner would not set what he called “an artificial deadline” for conferees to reach agreement, but he conceded that “the sooner, the better” would be good. He was also asked about the possibility of using war savings—specifically Overseas Contingency Operations—as a way to develop a long-term answer to the way Medicare reimburses the nation's doctors.

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