Friday, October 29, 2010

How can Medicare payments be fixed?

In a recent article at MedPage Today, they look at the dissatisfaction in the payment system of Medicare for doctors. While they are unfair, physicians really have no idea how they can fix the payment system. They do know that the current reform of the healthcare system will decrease their income.

Physicians were asked about their support for several new payment options, including: rewarding quality with financial incentives; bundling payments; shifting payments from procedures to management and counseling services; increasing pay to generalists; and offsetting the pay increase for generalists with a reduction in pay to specialists.

The survey found that 78% of doctors surveyed felt that some procedures are compensated too highly and others are not compensated enough to cover costs.

What do you think about the current physician reimbursement system? How greatly will it change with healthcare reform and will this affect the care of the patients in the future?






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