Medicare Seeks 10% Slash in Physician Fees

- Alicia Ault

Unless Congress steps in, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will reduce physicians payments by about 10% in January 2008, a deeper cut than earlier proposed.

For the last five years, Congress has given temporary one-, or two-year adjustments in payments. Last fall, legislators froze 2007 payment rates at 2006 levels, averting a slated 5% cut.This meant physicians would inevitably face a 10% cut in 2008 because by law, the 5% has to be accounted for.

At press time, the Senate Finance Committee was developing a bill to address the cuts, said Robert Doherty, senior vice president, governmental affairs and public policy, the American College of Physicians. Lawmakers were facing an uphill battle against time and competing legislative demands that also required new revenue, he said in an interview.