Government
Medicare pay cuts could affect care
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted April 3, 2006
Doctors might face hard decisions in patient care if proposed payment reductions go through.
A projected Medicare reimbursement cut of 5% next year and cumulative cuts of 34% over the next nine years would force physicians to make difficult choices when it comes to seeing elderly and disabled patients, the AMA concluded from the results of a recent Member Connect survey of more than 8,000 doctors.
If Congress doesn't act to reverse next year's cuts, some surveyed physicians said they would either decrease the number of Medicare patients they treat or stop seeing them altogether.
Under both the short-term and long-term Medicare cut scenarios, doctors anticipate other revisions to their practices that could affect patient access to needed care.
Source: American Medical Association Member Connect Survey, March
