Yesterday the Senate voted to prevent implemtation of the pending 23% cut in Medicare’s physician reimbursement – until December 31. The House will likely do the same.
Then, unless congress passes a bill that fixes – or postpones another cut in the RBRVS, physicians will see their reimbursement slashed.
I’ve blogged on the stupidity and wastefulness of this so many times I’m ready to sue Congress for carpal tunnel. But my problems are tiny compared to the hassles for docs, billing companies, insurers, regulators, and Medicare patients.
The new Congress wants to fix Washington. What they do about medicare physician reimbursement will tell us a lot about how – and if – they will succeed.
Nov
19
Joe: Thanks for posting on this important issue. I’ve been underwhelmed by the amount of type and airtime the press has devoted to covering this issue. “Kicking the Can” is exactly what Congress has been doing. The methodology for reimbursing physicians needs to be fixed. Since I have been working as a Practice Administrator (6 years), every year, a cut is threatened, then ‘postponed’ for a year. However, it looks now like, counting the new 12/31 ‘cut’ we have been through this uncertaintly 4 times in 2010. Bad enought to threaten a 20% pay cut once a year…who want to go through it 4 times in one year?