"DING DING DING! What do we have for her, Johnny?"
Posted on 10/31/2013 9:00:07 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Two key congressional committees have unveiled a proposal to end the annual "doc fixes."
Wednesday's draft from the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees outlines a gradual shift that would freeze doctor reimbursement rates for 10 years.
It would also provide bonuses to providers who embrace alternative payment models that reward quality of care.
Lawmakers are hoping to enact a permanent repeal by Dec. 31 of the "sustainable growth rate" formula that reimburses doctors for Medicare, and move Medicare toward performance-based payments.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle praised the proposal as an "important step" toward improving the program for patients and doctors alike. Physicians who treat Medicare patients are facing a pay cut of about 25 percent at the beginning of next year unless Congress acts before then.
"For years, Medicare payments to doctors have been at risk of being slashed, limiting seniors' access to high quality care," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) in a statement.
"Enough with the quick fixes. Our proposal is for a new physician payment system that rewards value over volume. It will go a long way in improving the efficiency and quality of care for America's seniors."
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved its own replacement package in July, but no panel has given details on how to pay for the reform — a crucial step that is sure to prompt wrangling among healthcare players intent on avoiding cuts.
When medicine is politicized, politics rule medicine.
“Our proposal is for a new physician payment system that rewards value over volume.”
So, those docs who work on the sickest patients will suffer financially because of a negative outcome.
So, as a doc (and I am) i only want to work on the healthiest patients, and at that, only on an outpatient basis.
Oh, I see the incentive now. Cherry-pick your patients.
I was in Bucharest, Romania 15 years ago, and had a cab driver who was trained as a general surgeon. He was driving the cab because he could support his family better by doing that rather than surgery.
I really want politicians messing around with the "quality of care". Why don't they go build a website?
Yes. Already older doctors are retiring. More will follow. Who will want to go into medicine and work for the state (not the patient) and not profit from long years of study, interning and heavy work load?
Doctors in Cuba are a commodity owned by the state - they are traded to other dictators in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Before long I expect to see Cuban doctors imported to the U.S. of Obama.
If I had a dollar for every problem caused by government and blamed on free markets, I’d be a big fat “film maker” with a baseball cap.
It's not just the older ones. The middle-aged and younger ones are cutting back and looking at alternatives. I know a couple of them already cutting back to half time and two who went back to school to get MBAs.
Anyone who thinks waiting 6 months to get an appointment with his doctor is going to be surprised when there are no more doctor visits. If you're lucky you'll get a PA or nurse practitioner - next week. No big deal because if you're over 60 you'll only get a pain pill for your cancer.
In the meantime, we'll get free birth control pills, free condoms, free HIV screening, free abortions, free domestic violence screening and counseling. Anyone over 60 gets rationing.
I have worked in healthcare for 30 years, and the people responsible for this hideously unconstitutional and unworkable legislation don’t want to hear from you and I.
We play the role of garlic to vampires for them.
And they most especially don’t want to listen to you.
"DING DING DING! What do we have for her, Johnny?"
As medical schools prepare students to practice medicine in a post-Affordable Care Act (ACA) world, they are adapting their coursework to emphasize team-based delivery and patient-centered care.
At Weill Cornell Medical College, first-year medical students learn the meaning of working as a team by training alongside nursing, social work, and public health students from Hunter College.
“If people are going into the profession to be the boss, to tell patients what to do and to order people around, that profession is gone,” Weill Cornell associate professor Joseph Murray told Modern Healthcare. Murray teaches a first-year course focused solely on the physician-patient relationship.
In response to the looming primary care physician (PCP) shortage, Weill Cornell is also looking to expand its student roster. The growing shortage has encouraged three Manhattan medical schools—including NYU Langone Medical Center—to launch compressed, three-year programs so that students can begin practicing sooner.
“If care is to be transformed, that can’t happen unless we transform the process of training physicians,” says Carol Aschenbrener, chief medical education officer of the American Association of Medical Colleges
http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2013/02/07/How-the-ACA-has-changed-medical-school
No “fixes” repeal this sh*thole!
This will serve to accelerate existing physicians retiring or closing up their practices. With malpractice insurance and other costs skyrocketing their already low payments from medicare, medical and other plans make it difficult for them to stay in business now. This along with the ACA is just the last straw thrown onto a heaping pile.
AMA, here is your reward for supporting Obamacare. And no, it doesn’t come with KY jelly.
#5.
THAT is their plan.
They will bring in al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists
as “doctors”, just like in the UK where patients
are left to die by “doctors” who don’t even wash their
hands for dhimmis.
The obvious solution is to add a regulation that doctors cannot retire.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.