Physician Payment Updates

Physician Payment Updates
The AMCNO comments to CMS that since 2002, the SGR formula has annually called for reductions in Medicare reimbursements. Payments were cut by 5 percent in 2002. Congress has intervened on 12 separate occasions since then to prevent additional cuts from being imposed. The current formula outlined in this rule calls for cuts of 29.5 percent on January 1, 2012. The AMCNO also noted we remain very concerned that all patients will be adversely affected by these proposed payment changes because Medicaid and private insurers use Medicare rates as a resource for their reimbursement rates. The AMCNO further noted that while we realize that ultimately the administration and Congress will have to act in order to replace the SGR, we believe that CMS and its’ administrators have the ability to review comments from physicians, physician organizations and other healthcare providers regarding the proposed payment and policy changes and try to find ways to improve physician payment without adding to overall Medicare costs. We also noted that recently the CMS Administrator, Dr. Donald Berwick, acknowledged that an additional cut in Medicare physician payments would have serious consequences. The AMCNO concurs with his comments and we have urged CMS and Congress to work toward a solution to this ongoing issue and finally pass a permanent SGR fix in order to solve this problem once and for all.