October 11, 2011
For the first time, the congressional advisory committee MedPAC has recommended that Congress should cut Medicare payments to physicians in exchange for ending the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
If these recommendations are passed by Congress, as a specialist, we will lose approximately six percent of your Medicare payments each year for the next three years. After that your pay will be frozen for another seven years.
This recommendation threatens the very core of neurology—the direct face-to-face time with patients—yet protects reimbursement for non-specialty physicians.
This means effectively that a specialist, with 8 years of graduate medical training, will be paid less than a nurse with less than two years graduate training. This “solution” is unacceptable, which is why we need all AAN members to send a message to Capitol Hill today.
This means that specialists would STOP TAKING MEDICARE ALTOGETHER.
Tell your representatives to reject MedPAC’s outrageous proposal.
Contact Your Legislator!
Dr. Samuel F. Hunter's Blog 