News in Brief: Proposed Budget Cuts May Hurt ASC, Outpatient Hospital

President Bush has proposed $178 billion in Medicare cuts over the next five years in his 2009 federal budget. The budget has not yet been approved, but the U.S. House of Representatives’ Budget Committee’s "Summary and Analysis of the President’s 2009 Budget," released on Feb. 7, projects cuts equaling $70.3 billion from hospital expenses (both inpatient and outpatient), as well as a $1.3 billion reduction in ASC spending.
If the proposed cuts succeed, Medicare patients may raise as many complaints as healthcare providers, thanks to the new income-based premium increases for both the Part B and Part D programs.
"The system may work if it graduates the premium based on where you (the beneficiary) live, but they don’t indicate they’re doing that," says Barbara J. Cobuzzi, MBA, CPC-OTO, CPC-H, CPC-P, CPC-I, CHCC, consulting director of education for The Coding Institute in Naples, Fla. A geographic indexing system is crucial to any income-based budget reform, Cobuzzi says, "because someone in Alabama and someone in New York City may make the same amount, but it doesn’t mean they have the same disposable budget."
Keep watching: Ambulatory Coding and Payment Report will bring you additional news on the possible effects of the proposed budget cuts as information becomes available.

- Published on 2008-03-14