government
Medicare cuts recommended in report on duplicative spending
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 14, 2011
A Government Accountability Office analysis identified potential savings opportunities in the Medicare program, auditors said in a March 1 report targeting duplicative federal spending.
Billions of tax dollars could be saved from 81 areas of the federal government, according to "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue." In the Medicare program, the GAO recommends profiling physician practice patterns to encourage more efficiency, improving management of imaging services, restructuring payments for home oxygen and reforming payments when physician services overlap.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken steps to address these areas, GAO said. For instance, the Medicare agency implemented a multiple procedure payment reduction on certain therapy services in 2011. But more congressional scrutiny of these issues might be needed to reduce duplicative spending further, the report said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/03/14/gvbf0314.htm.
