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Doctors still seeing Medicare patients

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 23, 2006

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About 73% of physicians said their practices were open to all new Medicare patients in 2004 and 2005, according to a recent study.

About 3.4% of physicians reported that they were completely closed to new patients during that time period. The remainder accepted some or most new patients.

The Center for Studying Health System Change, which surveyed more than 6,600 physicians, said that beneficiary access remained steady despite a 5.4% cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors in 2002.

The center's report challenges the assertion that Medicare rate cuts automatically will lead to declines in access, said Paul B. Ginsburg, PhD, HSC's president.

But the study's conclusions also mean that some harmful effects of Medicare payment rates lagging behind physician costs are lurking below the surface, said American Medical Association President J. Edward Hill, MD.

"Physicians often take other measures before stopping patient care, yet HSC reports that 35% of primary care physicians were not accepting new Medicare patients in 2004-2005," he said.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/01/23/gvbf0123.htm.

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