The United States could face "dire consequences" if Congress fails to enact healthcare reform legislation, according to leaders at the American College of Physicians (ACP). The group also said doctors will struggle to provide care without a permanent fix for the flawed Medicare physician payment system.
ACP released its annual "State of the Nation's Health Care" report at a Wednesday press conference.
"The unfortunate truth is that by many measures, the state of America's healthcare is in decline," said Joseph Stubbs, MD, president of ACP. "We have too many uninsured, too few primary care physicians, and the cost of health care is rising faster than we can afford."
Stubbs said a highly-partisan and polarized debate over healthcare reform has taken the country's "eye off the ball" from the urgency of implementing reforms.
Bob Doherty, ACP's senior vice president of governmental affairs and public policy said Washington politicians have decided for decades that healthcare reform is "too hard." He lamented that we may be on the brink of seeing this happen once again.
"But this time, we know what the consequences will be," Doherty said. "Affordable healthcare will be out of reach for many middle class families. One out of five of us will be uninsured. We won't be able to find a primary care doctor. And increased Medicare and Medicaid spending will create an unprecedented fiscal and budget crisis."
ACP recommended that Congress and President Barack Obama reach an agreement on a legislative pathway to enact a final bill that builds upon and improves the bills already passed by both houses.
"President Obama should reach out to both Republican and Democratic members of Congress to develop bipartisan proposals to reduce the costs associated with the medical liability tort system, and to work together on other issues that have support across the political parties, such as increasing the numbers of primary care physicians," according to ACP's report.
The report added that Obama should use his executive authority to require that all health-related federal agencies and private sector contractors develop plans to increase the numbers of primary care physicians and reduce the time that clinicians and patients spend on health plan administration.
According to Doherty, physicians spend on average three hours a week on interaction with healthcare payers and one-third of their income administrative work.
The report also called for Congress to permanently end the cycle of Medicare physician payment cuts caused by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
Doherty said ACP has heard from sources on Capitol Hill that Congress may postpone the 21 percent Medicare physician pay cut past its current deadline of March 1. But Doherty was doubtful Congress would pass any kind of long-term payment fix soon.
Stubbs said the uncertainty of facing a pay cut wreaks havoc on doctors' budgets. "We are hoping at best for a pay freeze. This situation is simply untenable out there for physicians trying to take care of patients," he said.