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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:
---------------
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.
-----------------
Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
Intrepid Resources® / The Medical Risk Manager Company
5000 West Esplanade Ave., #432
Metairie, Louisiana USA 70006
504-455-5895 office
504-455-9392 fax
DJP@intrepidresources.com
www.intrepidresources.com
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