Medicare Regulations: Restricting Your Doctor’s Ability to Provide Care

The most expensive heart attack is the one that could have been prevented. Cardiologists have made great strides in reducing heart-related death and the severity of heart-related illness and want to continue winning the fight against cardiovascular disease. But current Medicare changes would reduce payments to the point that it simply will not be feasible for physician offices to continue to provide critically important on-site diagnostic services that meet rigorous accreditation and quality standards.

Physicians are facing dramatic cuts in Medicare payments in 2010 due to a number of issues that threaten to reduce the ability of elderly patients to receive top-quality care. These include Medicare’s use of faulty data to set payment rates. The data indicate the costs of providing common cardiac procedures have decreased by 40 percent or more in the past few years—which is patently untrue. In addition, Medicare is mandated by law to implement the Sustainable Growth Rate, which will reduce all physicians’ payments by a staggering 21.2 percent in 2010. If these cuts are implemented, it will be impossible for cardiologists to sustain their current level of services, which in turn will limit patients’ access to lifesaving diagnostic services.