Return of the doc cuts threatens access, physician-group lobby says, again

Pending Medicare cuts could mean physician practices would back away from the program, according to a trade group representing these doctor groups, Medscape reports. "More than 67 percent of medical practices are likely to limit the number of new Medicare patients they accept, and half would refuse them altogether unless Congress halts the upcoming Medicare reimbursement cuts, according to a survey conducted by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and presented here at the MGMA 2010 Annual Conference. The action would stem from Congress's repeated failure to address the flawed sustainable growth rate formula. A 23.6 percent cut could occur on December 1, followed by an another 6.5 percent reduction January 1 to the Medicare Part B conversion factor" (Helwick, 10/27).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.