Tick Tock: Medicare Payment Cuts for Docs Due to Start Monday
The clock is running out before a 21% cut in Medicare payments to doctors kicks in. Plans to block the reductions have gotten hung up in Congress.
In response, the AMA is telling its members what they can do about the lower payments, including closing their doors to new Medicare patients, CNN reports. “To our physicians, we are providing information on their Medicare participation options, including how to remove themselves from the Medicare program,” AMA President James Rohack told the cable channel.
There’s nothing new about these cuts — they have been scheduled to go into effect regularly since 2003. Congress has blinked with a temporary reprieve each time in the past, but hasn’t done so yet this time with the cuts slated to begin Monday. Here’s why:
The House yesterday adopted a one-month delay in the cuts as part of a $10 billion employment bill with various other health provisions. “The legislation, which the Senate may take up next week, would give lawmakers more time to debate the fee cuts,” Bloomberg reported today.
But there could be a big hangup in getting that bill through the Senate in a hurry because Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky wants to delay any swift […]
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