Industry Note:
Looming 30% Doc Pay Cut Translates To Big Budget Reductions Coming
Published on Fri Apr 27, 2012
Gear up for some ugly Medicare budget cutting at the end of the year. It may be an election year, but lawmakers still will have to act to avert the 30.9 percent cut to physicians' Medicare payment rates set to take effect Jan. 1. And if legislators want to avoid a 15th short-term patch for the physician payment formula problem, it will take some serious funding. The American Medical Association "is dedicated to ending this damaging cycle and stabilizing Medicare for patients and physicians," the heavy-hitting trade group for physicians says in a statement. "We will continue to work with policymakers on both sides of the aisle to eliminate the broken Medicare physician payment formula once and for all."