The American Medical Association and 65 national physician organizations urged Congress on Wednesday to take immediate action to stop the 30 percent Medicare pay cuts looming at the end of this year.
According to AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, MD, Congress has repeatedly failed to fix the flawed Medicare physician payment formula, relying instead on temporary reprieves from scheduled cuts. The latest of the temporary delays stabilized Medicare physician payments only through the end of November.
If Congress doesn't act by December 1 Medicare payments for physician services will be slashed by more than 23 percent. An additional cut of 6.5 percent will follow on January 1, Wilson said.
"The AMA is calling on Congress to immediately address this impending crisis when they return to Washington after the November elections," he said. "Without action to stop the cuts, Congress will create a Medicare meltdown with access to care threatened for seniors and the baby boomers who will begin entering Medicare in January."
"Ultimately, a permanent solution must be passed to fix this broken system, but Congress must first stop the 30 percent payment cuts threatening seniors' access to care now," he said.
According to the AMA, "severe instability in the Medicare system is already compromising access to healthcare for America's seniors." A 2010 MedPAC survey found that one in four seniors who was looking for a new primary care physician had trouble finding one.
"The threat of cuts to already low Medicare rates has left many physicians uncertain about the future of Medicare in their practice," Wilson said. "The massive cuts scheduled at the end of this year come during the same time period when physicians can change their status within the Medicare program. Although these physicians are dedicated to their Medicare patients, many will be forced to consider changes including limiting the number of Medicare patients they can accept."