Survey Finds Medicare Beneficiary Access to Care Will Be Compromised As a Result of Medicare Physician Payment Reductions

An American Medical Association (AMA) survey released April 4, 2005 indicates that steep Medicare payment cuts to physicians, nurses and other health professionals will hurt access to care for America's seniors and disabled. Designed to examine how the projected Medicare physician payment cuts could affect physicians' practices, the survey topics include: potential changes to accepting/treating Medicare patients, potential changes to practice and likelihood of participation in Medicare Advantage.

The new 2005 Medicare Trustees Report, released last month, projected sharp Medicare physician payment cuts of 26 percent over six years beginning in 2006. That same Medicare Trustees Report indicates the cost of running a practice and caring for patients will increase 15 percent during that time.

Other survey results show additional practice changes physicians will be forced to make as a result of the cuts. For example, if Medicare payments are cut by about 5 percent in 2006, 61 percent of physicians plan to defer purchase of new medical equipment and 54 percent plan to defer purchase of information technology.

ASH continues to be actively involved in issues affecting physician reimbursement. For more information about physician reimbursement issues, please see the ASH Committee on Practice Update.