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Medicare News
GAO Report Says Physicians Not Likely to Limit
Medicare Patients if Pay is Cut
AMA says up to 45% of physicians may limit practice
if Medicare cuts rates
July 24, 2006 – Just a few days ago the president
of the American Medical Association was on the speaking tour and telling
senior citizens that up to 45% of physicians, according to their survey,
will limit their Medicare patients if Congress does not stop a 5% cut in
doctor's payments scheduled by Medicare. The argument received a strong
counter on Friday from a report by the Government Accountability Office
that there is no evidence to expect this to happen, according to a
KaiserNet.org report today.
 Lower
Medicare Payments to Doctors Do Not Decrease Access to Care, GAO Finds
Reductions in Medicare payments to physicians have
not resulted in a decrease in the number of providers accepting Medicare
beneficiaries or made it difficult for beneficiaries to find providers,
according to a
Government Accountability Office report released on Friday,
Reuters/Arizona Daily Star reports (Reuters/Arizona Daily Star,
7/22).
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Reduction in Medicare Reimbursement to Physicians
May Limit New Patients
AMA President says 45% of doctors will limit
Medicare practice
July
19, 2006 - Forty-five percent of physicians in the
American Medical
Association plan to decrease or stop the acceptance of new
Medicare beneficiaries and
TRICARE
members if Congress does not act to stop a 5% decrease in Medicare
physician payments that is scheduled to take effect in 2007, AMA
President Jeremy Lazarus said on Tuesday, the
AP/South Florida
Sun-Sentinel reports.
Read more...
Read more
on
Medicare
or
Medicare Drug Program |
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Since the early 1990s, some lawmakers, health
policy analysts and physician groups such as the
American Medical Association have raised concerns that reductions in
Medicare physician payments will lead some providers to stop accepting
beneficiaries as patients,
CQ HealthBeat reports.
The GAO report, which was requested by Congress as
part of the 2003 Medicare law, examines beneficiaries' perception of
physician availability from 2000 to 2004; beneficiaries' use of
physician services from 2000 to 2005; and physician supply and physician
willingness to accept beneficiaries as patients from 2000 to 2005
(Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 7/21).
According to the report, which analyzes
CMS data, concerns about decreased access to providers "were
heightened in 2002" when Medicare physician payments were reduced 5.4%
to lower spending increases. However, the report finds that no more than
about 7% of beneficiaries have experienced "a major access difficulty."
In addition, the report states, "Only a small
fraction -- less than 4% -- of physicians responded that they did not
accept any new Medicare patients" (Washington
Post, 7/22).
Overall, from April 2000 to April 2005, the
percentage of beneficiaries who received physician services and the
number of physician services that were provided both increased, the
report finds. "These increases suggest that there was no reduction in
the predominant tendency of physicians to accept Medicare patients and
payments," according to the report.
AMA Response
In a response included in the report, AMA said the GAO analysis "should
not be interpreted as an improvement in access," adding that the
increased use of physician services could be the result of beneficiaries
being sicker, more beneficiaries receiving physician services in
doctors' offices rather than in hospitals or other settings, or
beneficiaries' increased use of new Medicare benefits (CQ HealthBeat,
7/21).
The report is available
online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report.
"Reprinted with permission
from
kaisernetwork.org You can view the entire
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign up
for email delivery at
www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report is published for
kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation. © 2006 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.
All rights reserved.”
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