The House has passed and sent to President Barack Obama a bill to delay for a year an impending sharp cut in Medicare pay to doctors. Doctors that threatened to disrupt care for the nation’s seniors will be cut funding. The doctor cuts are the result of a 1990s budget-balancing law that tried, but failed, to keep Medicare spending in line through automatic reductions. Congress was under tremendous pressure this time, with medical groups estimating that as many as two-thirds of doctors would stop taking new Medicare patients. “Many physicians made clear that this year’s roller coaster ride, caused by five delays of this year’s cut, forced them to make difficult practice changes like limiting the number of Medicare patients they could treat.” said Cecil B. Wilson, president of the American Medical Association. Congress will use the 12-month reprieve to try to come up with a new way of paying doctors that rewards quality care instead of sheer numbers of tests and procedures
Title: Medicare pay-cut delay passes House
Author: Eric Gay
Publication Source: The Christian Science Monitor, December 10, 2010
Author: Eric Gay
URL: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2010/1210/Medicare
Student Researcher: Danielle Frisk, Sonoma State University
Experts in Field: Elena Verba, RN at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital