reimbursement cuts

October 2006 "San Diego Physician"

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Features Apologies Are Best Practice Joseph E. Sherger, MD, MPH Fair Physician Payment for Services Rendered Theodore M. Mazer, MD Letter to the Editor Eva Leonard, MD, and Joseph F. Leonard, MD Business School Concepts Daniel J. Rich, MBA Bad Behavior The SCPIE Companies Physician Disclosure of Adverse Events David B Troxel, MD

No 10% Medi-Cal Cut!

The Honorable Denise Ducheny, Chair, Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

The Honorable Dennis Hollingsworth, Vice Chair, Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Senators Ducheny and Hollingsworth:

We Won … Now What?

At the close of 2005, San Diego physicians faced the prospect of cuts in major government medical program reimbursements. In the Medicare program, the beginning of a series of annual cuts leading to reduction of payments of nearly 25 percent over six years was set to start. For Medi-Cal providers, the governor had decided to impose a 5 percent across-the-board cut allowed by the termination of a stay set up a few years ago by a lawsuit filed by CMA against California for violating federal statutes.

New Medicare Outpatient Referrals

The following is the script my office staff is reading to new Medicare outpatient referrals. I will continue to see established Medicare outpatients and new Medicare inpatient referrals.

Medicare Payment Delays

This fact sheet was released Tuesday, January 3, 2006, by the CMS Office of Public Affairs: (202) 690-6145. For questions about Medicare, please call 1 (800) MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov.

Guns and Children • Medicare Cuts

Re: Guns and Children

Dear Editor:

How Medicare Cuts Hurt Us All

“He won’t see me,” said Mrs. E., an 80-year-old woman in my rheumatology practice. She had a sore throat, high fever and a cough, and had called her longtime primary care physician for an appointment. “His next available appointment is in two weeks. I can’t wait two weeks.”

Caught in a Reimbursement Squeeze

San Diego County physicians in private practice face increasingly difficult times financially. While the costs of medical practice rise inexorably, reimbursement for medical care is declining. The downturn in reimbursement is especially problematic today in San Diego County for a combination of reasons.

Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Formula

How SDCMS Helps You: The Fight to Fix the (Un)Sustainable Growth Rate Formula