tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement - 2004 Issue 45

Physicians: Sticker Shock May Scare Congress Out Of Saving Docs From Cuts

Docs should brace themselves for seven years of nightmares.Enjoy that 1.5-percent increase in Medicare payments - the boost could be the last for a while. The problem: Because of the Sustainable Growth Rate, a formula that Congress passed into law in 1997, any rise in Medicare physician spending over the economy's rate of growth has to result in a cut to payments the following year. Because Congress replaced sharp cuts in Medicare payments for 2004 and 2005 with 1.5-percent increases in both years, docs are facing cuts averaging 5 percent per year from 2006 to...

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