Kathianne
12-30-2012, 03:39 AM
the problem persists:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/29/fewer-doctors-would-take-medicare-fiscal-cliff/
Fiscal Cliff: Fewer doctors would take MedicareBy R.J. Ignelzi (http://www.utsandiego.com/staff/rj-ignelzi/)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Medicare reimbursement payments to doctors will be cut significantly, unless Congress moves to end its stalemate.
Reimbursements to doctors will be cut by 26.5 percent as of Jan. 1, because of a failure by Congress to again adjust its formula for Medicare payments. The cut is in addition to an across-the-board 2 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that are part of the automatic reductions scheduled for the new year.
The dramatic cuts could result in more physicians refusing to treat Medicare patients.
“It will vary from practice to practice, but if rates are cut, physicians will start to leave (Medicare patient care) faster than they already are,” said Thomas Gehring, San Diego Medical Society chief executive. “If the rate cuts go through, then we will rely on fewer and fewer doctors seeing more and more patients.”
There are about 413,000 Medicare recipients in San Diego County, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
The payment cut to doctors is the result of something called the Medicare sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula. Also known as the “doc fix,” it was part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The SGR pegs growth in Medicare payments to the growth in the gross domestic product. If physician costs exceed growth, then reimbursement payments are supposed to be cut.
However, until now, physicians have never seen a cut in payments. Every year since 2003, physicians have faced an ever-deepening SGR-mandated pay cut that Congress has postponed either at the last minute or retroactively a few days after it took effect.
“This is not the first time physicians have faced this situation. It happens almost every year and (Congress) kicks the can down the road and makes a patch fix for nine months to a year that costs $20 billion to $30 billion,” said Dr. Donald Balfour, president and medical director of Sharp Rees-Stealy medical group.
However, if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year, then the cumulative amounts waived by previous congressional actions will all hit at once, creating the 26.5 percent cut in payments.
...
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/29/fewer-doctors-would-take-medicare-fiscal-cliff/
Fiscal Cliff: Fewer doctors would take MedicareBy R.J. Ignelzi (http://www.utsandiego.com/staff/rj-ignelzi/)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Medicare reimbursement payments to doctors will be cut significantly, unless Congress moves to end its stalemate.
Reimbursements to doctors will be cut by 26.5 percent as of Jan. 1, because of a failure by Congress to again adjust its formula for Medicare payments. The cut is in addition to an across-the-board 2 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that are part of the automatic reductions scheduled for the new year.
The dramatic cuts could result in more physicians refusing to treat Medicare patients.
“It will vary from practice to practice, but if rates are cut, physicians will start to leave (Medicare patient care) faster than they already are,” said Thomas Gehring, San Diego Medical Society chief executive. “If the rate cuts go through, then we will rely on fewer and fewer doctors seeing more and more patients.”
There are about 413,000 Medicare recipients in San Diego County, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
The payment cut to doctors is the result of something called the Medicare sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula. Also known as the “doc fix,” it was part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The SGR pegs growth in Medicare payments to the growth in the gross domestic product. If physician costs exceed growth, then reimbursement payments are supposed to be cut.
However, until now, physicians have never seen a cut in payments. Every year since 2003, physicians have faced an ever-deepening SGR-mandated pay cut that Congress has postponed either at the last minute or retroactively a few days after it took effect.
“This is not the first time physicians have faced this situation. It happens almost every year and (Congress) kicks the can down the road and makes a patch fix for nine months to a year that costs $20 billion to $30 billion,” said Dr. Donald Balfour, president and medical director of Sharp Rees-Stealy medical group.
However, if Congress doesn’t act by the end of the year, then the cumulative amounts waived by previous congressional actions will all hit at once, creating the 26.5 percent cut in payments.
...