Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Time is running out for fix to 5.1-percent cut.

The American Medical Association's (AMA) $1.5-million advertising campaign to stop Medicare pay cuts for doctors may have backfired, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The AMA has angered influential Republicans by running advertisements targeting vulnerable GOP incumbents, at a time when the Republican party is fighting to keep control over Congress, the Tribune says.

Meanwhile, at press time, Congress was scheduled to go into recess at the end of September, with few signs of progress on legislation to halt next year's 5.1-percent cut and with similar cuts scheduled for the next few years. Washington insiders remained skeptical that the AMA and other physician groups could convince Congress to halt the cuts.

The AMA has rejected calls for it to embrace programs to reward doctors for meeting quality goals or sharing information about quality. The AMA wants Congress to restore next year's payments, and then the AMA will consider quality-improvement programs.