Senior Citizens, Military Families May Find Doctors
Refusing Service as Medicare Pay Shrinks 21%
Military families are also hurt by March 1 reduction
as TRICARE ties its payment rates to Medicare
March 2, 2010 - The U.S. Senate’s failure to act
before the 21 percent Medicare physician payment cut went into effect
yesterday has put seniors at grave risk of reduced access to health care
and choice of physician, according a news release from the American
Medical Association.
Doctors face 21% pay cut from Medicare in 2010; same
annual quandary Democrats tried to fix; senior citizens many find it
harder to get a doctor; AMA issues new list of states with problems
By
Tucker Sutherland, editor & publisher
SeniorJournal.com
“The Senate had over a year to repeal the flawed
formula that causes the annual payment cut and instead they abandoned
America’s seniors, making them collateral damage to their procedural
games,” said AMA President J. James Rohack, M.D.
“Physicians are outraged because the cut, combined
with the continued instability in the system, will force them to make
difficult practice changes including limiting the number of Medicare
patients they can treat.”
Physicians from across the nation are in
Washington, D.C. this week for the AMA’s National Advocacy Conference
and will meet directly with their senators to tell them it is urgent
that they permanently repeal the flawed Medicare physician payment
formula and replace it with one that reflects the increased cost of
caring for patients.
“The AMA is hearing directly from physicians, and
seniors should be very concerned about how the Senate’s inaction will
impact their ability to see a doctor,” said Dr. Rohack.
“Military families are also hurt as TRICARE ties
its payment rates to Medicare.”
On March 1, doctors all across the U.S. took a 21
percent reduction in the amount they are paid for treating Medicare and
TRICARE beneficiaries. Efforts by Democrats to correct this mandated
reduction has been blocked by Republicans. Physicians, meanwhile, are
talking of reducing services to senior citizens on Medicare unless the
pay cut is reversed.
The Associated Press reports today that "the Obama administration
directed Medicare billing contractors to hold off processing claims for
10 business days" in the hopes that senators will break the deadlock.
"Medicare normally takes 14 days to pay doctors, so
there would be no reduction in reimbursement if lawmakers move quickly,"
the AP reports.
Groups like the American Medical Association have
become highly critical of lawmakers for what they term "playing games"
with people's care.
"Funding to temporarily stave off the cuts was part
of a bill passed last week by the House. But the Senate failed to act on
the one-month fix." (See today's related
Daily Report coverage regarding Senate action.)
Congress routinely passes bills aimed at staving
off the payment reduction since lawmakers directed such a move in a
deficit reduction bill in the 1990s (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/1).
The Palm Beach Post: Doctors in South Florida continued to treat
patients normally on Monday but said that they would have to stop if the
Medicare cuts are not reversed.
"At Boca Raton Community Hospital, cardiologist Dr.
Stephen Babic said doctors have planned a protest of the Medicare cuts
for Wednesday. 'Doctors are working today and they don't know what they
are going to be paid,' Babic said. 'All the doctors here are saying if
you cut us 20 percent we can't make payroll, we can't pay our overhead,
we can't keep the doors open.'"
Doctors in South Florida are laying workers off
because of lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and what they say are
fewer patients coming to see them. In addition, some said "cardiologists
were especially hard hit because in January, Medicare cut what it paid
for certain diagnostic tests like echocardiograms" (Singer, 3/1).
Obama Budget Has Money for Physicians
President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget requests
$3.8 trillion to protect physicians from Medicare pay cuts and extend
enhanced federal support for state Medicaid programs.
Obama's proposal, unveiled Feb. 1, sets aside $371
billion over a decade to pay for the cost of preventing Medicare pay
cuts under the sustainable growth rate formula. But the funding would
only be enough to turn annual reductions into rate freezes, not to fund
pay raises, according to a report by the American Medical News..
Also, the president left the specifics of how to
prevent the cuts up to Congress, Jonathan Blum, director of the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Center for Medicare Management,
told the newspaper.
"There's lots of different ways to reform physician
payment in the long term," Blum said. Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was confident Congress would
prevent the cuts, which are scheduled to begin with a 21.2% reduction on
March 1.
AMA President Rohack said the AMA "commends
President Obama for recognizing that permanent reform is crucial to
preserving physician care for current and future seniors who rely on
Medicare." The AMA has urged Congress to pass a long-term overhaul that
results in cost-based physician rate increases, not freezes.
March 2, 2010 - The U.S. Senate’s failure to act
before the 21 percent Medicare physician payment cut went into effect
yesterday has put seniors at grave risk of reduced access to health care
and choice of physician, according a news release from the American
Medical Association.
Also issues other policy updates adjusting pay for
hospital outpatient care, home health care
