AMA Criticizes Senate Medicare Physician Payment Fix Proposal

AMA President J. James Rohack criticized a measure that would temporarily stave off a 21-percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians as a “Band-Aid approach,” according to a report by Bloomberg featured by Business Week. The Medicare payment cuts are scheduled to go into effect March 1.

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The proposal was included in an $80 billion job-creation bill announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Feb.11. It would delay the Medicare payment cut until Oct. 1, according to a draft of the measure cited in the Bloomberg report.

The AMA has lobbied for permanent repeal of Medicare’s physician payment formula, known as the sustainable growth rate formula, which sets yearly targets for Medicare expenditures on physician services.

Read the Bloomberg story on Medicare physician payments.

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