Physicians Say Government 'Never Will' Understand

More than 40 percent of physicians participating in a single-question online poll said they feel the U.S. government "never will" understand how declining reimbursement rates from Medicare negatively affect the care patients receive from their physicians.

According to a news release issued today by SERMO, the nation's largest physician-only online community:

(1) Physicians fear reimbursements will continue to decline in the coming years, reducing patient access to physicians;

(2) Physicians are concerned that they will not be able to continue treating Medicare patients due to financial losses they incur from the program's low reimbursement rates;

(3) Many physicians indicate they want to pursue a similar cash-only policy as the Mayo Clinic of Arizona has adopted (Note: Mayo began the year by announcing it plans to drop Medicare as a third-party payer for primary care in 2010 after reporting losses of $840 million from Medicare in 2009); and

(4) Physicians fear that the federal and state governments will attempt to force participation in the program by tying state licensure to Medicare/Medicaid acceptance and, say that, if forced to participate in a money-losing venture, they would seek alternative employment.

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My Father-in-law’s office does not take medicare patients. He could not afford to stay in business doing so. The office across the hall however does and to remain profitable at all they have to rely on volume, lots of volume. So every day its standing room only, with people spilling out into the halls, sitting on the floor or on the stairs, and sometimes wandering into my Father-in-laws office to swipe a magazine.

And its not just Medicaid. I received a colonoscopy this last year and my company-paid-for plan pays 100% of the procedure but they only paid the doctor $350 of the $625 submitted cost. The Doctor has to eat the rest of the cost. I talked to my father in law a physician about this and he says it happens all the time in his practice. There is allot of reform needed, but Government is not the answer and the worse of the lot, Medicaid proves that.

I meant “Medicaid”. Get the two mixed up all the time.

My Father-in-law’s office does not take medicare (MEDICAID) patients. He could not afford to stay in business doing so. The office across the hall however does and to remain profitable at all they have to rely on volume, lots of volume. So every day its standing room only, with people spilling out into the halls, sitting on the floor or on the stairs, and sometimes wandering into my Father-in-laws office to swipe a magazine.

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