Medicare access problems may have begun

     The Center for Studying Health System Change recently released new figures indicating that Medicare access problems may have already started, even before the new cuts have gone into effect. Testifying to Congress, Paul B. Ginsburg, PhD., president of the Center, stated fewer physicians are accepting new Medicare patients, longer waits for appointments and physicians working more hours are all tell tale signs that Medicare beneficiaries’ access to physicians is slipping.

     In his testimony Ginsburg cited preliminary 2001 findings from HSC surveys of consumers and physicians indicating physicians’ capacity to meet patient demand is tightening.  The percentage of physicians willing to accept new Medicare patients has declined by four percent in 2001.  At the same time Medicare beneficiaries responding to HSC’s survey reported increasingly more problems obtaining appointments, nearly a 14% increase over previous years.  Waiting longer to obtain an appointment also increased by 5%.

      HSC research also indicated that the average hours per week physicians spent caring for patients increased from forty-four to forty-six hours per week.  “The increase in hours spent in patient care is consistent with anecdotal reports that physicians are working harder to make up for lower fees-either meeting higher demand or creating it,” Ginsburg states.

    According to Ginsburg, policy makers should also be aware of the relationship between Medicare and private insurers’ physician payment rates.  HSC cites visits to twelve nationally representative communities from coast to coast have found wide community variation between Medicare physician payment rates and private insurers’ payment rates.  Medicare payment methods strongly influence private payers and many health plans set their physician payments as percentage of what Medicare pays.

     Note:   HSC is a nonpartisan policy research organization, based in Washington, D.C., which designs and conducts studies focusing on the U.S. healthcare system to inform the thinking and decisions of policy makers in government and private industry.