Could four conditions help doctors save Medicare money?

Logo Source: Med City News

The American Medical Association recently sent a request for Medicare to start paying doctors for four tasks that will allow Medicare to save more health care money in the long run by encouraging patients to get their questions answered before they go to the emergency room.


Health Leaders Media reports the four tasks that they have requested for reimbursement are:

• -Responding to calls from patients at least seven days past doctors visits
• -Education and training to help patients better manage their health
• -Management of coagulataen drugs
• -Reimbursement for team coordination when patients aren't

Barbara Levy, MD, chairperson of the AMA's Specialty Society RVS (Relative Value Scale) Update Committee, issued the following in a recent release:
“When treating patients with chronic conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, physicians provide many services that are currently not recognized or compensated by Medicare. Not only will payment for these services save Medicare money in unnecessary office and emergency room visits......potential savings in Medicare Parts A and D will also offset upfront payment for non–face-to-face services."

At the 9th Medicare Congress, the panel Strengthening Medicare – Better Health and Lower Costs for Medicare Beneficiaries a group of panelists will be discussing the latest changes to Medicare and how better coordinated care can save the industry money.  For more information, download the agenda here.

Do you agree with Levy's statements? Could reimbursing doctors for time spent doing the four things listed above save the Medicare organization more money in the long run?

Preliminary Agenda now available for the Medicare Congress

Save the Date! Join us February 6-8, 2012 at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, Florida for the 9th Annual Medicare Congress, the premiere Medicare event featuring today's health plans discussing tomorrow's solutions. Last year we had more than 150 attendees from across the country, representing California, Arizona, New York, Illinois, Texas, and Washington, DC to name a few.

Did you know that in 2011 only 3 Medicare health plans received an overall rating of 5 stars? With over 500 Medicare health plans nationwide, the question remains, how did these 3 conquer all? Learn from the highly ranked plans on how they achieved their high scores and hear directly from the federal officials on how to excel on your RADV audit, improve your Star Rating, and remain profitably despite reimbursement costs.
What's new for 2012?

Three New Full Day Summits

• • State-of-the-Art Medicare Compliance Summit
• • Medicare Pharmacy Benefit Management Summit
• • ICD: 10 Payer Implementation Summit

Three New 100% Case Study Tracks

• • Medicare Marketing and Member Retention
• • Complex Care Management that Delivers Clinical and Financial Results
• • Medicare Reimbursement & Revenue Enhancement

Download the preliminary agenda to see what's in store for 2012.