DJP Update 3-1-2010 Press release about physician payment cut of 21% Medicare and a little more
Don’t forget the liberty right of contracting with patients for any differences that government pays, a right physicians do not have now unless the physician gets out of Medicare for two years! In my view, that should be part of every medical organization’s message to Congress and the American public. Price-fixing throughout history always leads to loss of access to service or product.
Press release follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: media@protectpatientsrights.org
March 1, 2010 (703) 405-9407
MEDICARE BEING CUT TODAY
Biggest story in healthcare isn’t the reform bill, it’s that already-below-market physician reimbursement rates are being cut 21% today
WASHINGTON, DC – Due to Congressional inaction, Medicare’s reimbursement rates to doctors for their care of our nation’s elderly population will be cut a staggering 21 percent today. This is a result of an unwillingness or inability – pick your poison – to permanently secure the Medicare payment formula system or to even temporarily extend the patchwork fix already in place (the Sustainable Growth Rate formula or SGR). The Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights supports a strong Medicare and a fair formula that will provide physicians with the resources they need to treat America’s seniors and also allow patients and physicians to negotiate any differences in cost to ensure patients get the care they need.
Former president of the American Medical Association and current spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights, Dr. Donald Palmisano, made the following statement on the Medicare payment cuts:
“What are physicians to do? What are senior citizens to do?
“As Congress debates, seniors are at peril of losing the medical care they desperately need. Doctors are already providing care to the nation’s seniors at a reduced rate, but this latest cut makes treating those on Medicare financially impossible for doctors, nurses, and hospitals.
“And a one-time patch isn’t going to fix the problem for long. Although more than 40 million Americans rely on Medicare for their well-being and as enrollment is expected to explode as baby-boomers age and retire, Congress has recently proposed gutting Medicare – to the tune of $500 billion. There’s no way Medicare can be cut and still provide the medical service our most vulnerable populations need. Congress must fund Medicare so that it becomes solvent, pays physicians for the work and treatments they provide, and give seniors the peace of mind they deserve.
“Unfortunately, when medicine is subject to the limits of government-control and price-fixing, patients suffer. This isn’t just the case for Medicare, but also for Medicaid, or any other government controlled healthcare system – no matter what it’s called. Congress must do what it can to empower patients and physicians in healthcare, while limiting the role of bureaucrats.”
Dr. Palmisano is also available for interviews from New Orleans, LA, today. Please contact CPPR for more information (703) 405-9407.
About the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights
The Coalition to Protect Patients Rights is a non-partisan, grassroots coalition made up of over 10,000 doctors, healthcare providers, advocacy groups, and concerned citizens who are dedicated to the implementation of patient-centered healthcare reform that will improve patient care. For more information, visit the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights website at www.protectpatientsrights.org.
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Meanwhile, others talk of the “the growing market power of hospitals and physicians to negotiate higher payment rates-”
DJP: The overwhelming majority of physicians have no market power!
The context of the market power of physicians comes from this article:
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http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.2009.0715
While the high cost of private health insurance has drawn plenty of attention in the health reform debate, an underlying driver of higher insurance premiums–the growing market power of hospitals and physicians to negotiate higher payment rates–has gone largely unexamined, according to a Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) study published online Feb. 25 by Health Affairs.
Funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, the study examines the growing market power of many California hospitals and physicians, finding that providers are using various strategies, such as tighter alignment of hospitals and physician groups, to negotiate significantly higher payment rates from private insurers. The authors point out that California offers a cautionary tale for reform proposals that encourage hospitals and physicians to form tighter relationships through accountable care organizations.
“Health insurers have been squarely in the crosshairs and blamed for the high cost of private insurance, while the role of growing hospital and physician market power has escaped scrutiny,” said HSC Senior Consulting Researcher Robert A. Berenson of the Urban Institute, a coauthor of the study with HSC President Paul B. Ginsburg and Nicole Kemper, a former HSC research analyst.
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Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
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