My Crystal Ball Predicts 27.4% Cut in Medicare Payment on 1/1/12

The Congressional Super Committee tasked with finding a way to reduce the federal deficit officially failed to come to an agreement the day before Thanksgiving.  In reality, they had agreed to disagree last weekend as they needed the Congressional Budget Office to review their numbers prior to an official announcement this past Wednesday.

So what does this mean for you and me?  I don't know about you, but it means that unless Congress finds a way to deal with Medicare's budgetary woes in the next 4 weeks, I will face a 27.4% cut in reimbursement from Medicare starting January 1st, 2012.  Perhaps that wouldn't be so bad if I focused my practice on aesthetics or cash-only procedures.  But I'm a geriatrician.  Fellowship trained & board certified.  That's what I do.  Take care of older patients.

This is the frustration that lead me to leave academia 8 years ago when I faced the yearly threat of a reduction in my reimbursement.  In one sense, it's nice to know that some things don't change.  But after 8 years, I was hoping that Congress would have fixed the sustainable growth rate (SGR) fiasco which has led to this annual debacle.  Granted, Congress has always annually made an end run around the pay cut, but who likes to work at a job where one's livelihood is threatened each year.

Earlier this month, the Associated Press put out a nice article on the decline in geriatricians like myself.  Unless we re-prioritize our medical education & training, care for the sickest of the sick isn't going to look very pretty in the near future. Do yourself a favor.  and send a letter to Congress telling them they need to fix Medicare.  This e-letter is a pretty simple thing to send.  Just go to http://www.capwiz.com/aafp/issues/alert/?alertid=55362501&type=CO and fill in the required information and hit send.  Then off it goes.  While I am not ready to compare our current Medicare to evil, I think that this quote, often misattributed to Edmund Burke, is apropos:  All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

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