Medicare Payments to Doctors Face Cuts
From New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 --- The Bush administration on Tuesday proposed a cut of 5.1 percent across the board in Medicare payments for services provided by doctors to elderly and disabled patients in 2007.
The increase directly affects beneficiaries because their premiums are set each year to cover about 25 percent of projected spending under Part B of Medicare, which pays for doctors' services and other outpatient care.
"Our current system of paying for physician services is simply not sustainable, from the point of view of taxpayers or Medicare beneficiaries,'' Dr. McClellan said.
The White House, Congress and doctors have been talking for more than a year about ways to link Medicare payments to the quality of care doctors provide.
Officials estimate that the program will pay $61.5 billion to 875,000 doctors and other health care professionals next year.
Donald B. Marron, acting director of the Congressional Budget Office, said substantial evidence suggested that "a reduction in payment rates leads physicians to increase the volume and intensity of the services they perform.'' But, Mr. Marron cautioned, some "are likely to respond to continuing reductions in payment rates by declining to participate in the Medicare program.''
The Bush administration also announced that it would require hospitals to provide the government with information on their "investment and compensation relationships with physicians.'' Hospitals that specialize in cardiac, orthopedic or surgical care will have to inform patients if any staff doctors have "an investment interest'' in the hospital.
Hospitals that do not comply with the new disclosure requirements will face civil fines up to $10,000 a day.
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