AMA asks Congress to stop Medicare physician payment cuts

Physician payment cuts of 26 percent over the next six years, coupled with a 15 percent increase in the cost of caring for patients, will impair seniors' access to care, said AMA Board Chair Duane M. Cady, MD, in an AMA press release.

"38 percent of physicians say the first payment cut in 2006 will force them to stop taking new Medicare patients," said Cady.

The cuts, scheduled to begin Jan. 1, will make the average physician payment rate less in 2006 than in 2001, according to Cady.

Cady criticized the current physician payment formula for unjustly penalizing physicians for providing services in performance programs and suggested that Congress replace the current physician payment formula with one based on practice costs.

"The cuts also negatively impact physicians' ability to purchase information technology, which is critical for the quality improvements we are all working for," said Cady. "Congress should defer implementation of value-based purchasing proposals until the physician payment formula is repealed and a stable Medicare payment system that reflects increases in physician practice costs is in place."

For more information, go to http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1616.html.