Poll: Physicians up in arms against Medicare cuts
The results of a poll of nearly 1,500 physicians found 84 percent saying they will be forced to cut back the number of patients admitted, if the Medicare cuts scheduled to take effect March 3, hold. Some physician participating in the poll said they may have to close their practices altogether.
The poll was conducted by Sermo, an online community of physicians based in Cambridge, Mass.
Officials from Sermo weighed in saying this cut in reimbursements will dramatically impact both the physicians providing care and the patients. One of the physicians polled noted, "Ultimately, it's the patients who will suffer."
The poll suggest that many practices, private and group, will be opting out of Medicare as of March 1. One family practice physician that participated in the poll said, "My primary care group will stop accepting new Medicare patients Monday, and if the cuts stick, terminate care for 25-50 percent of the existing patients and require all new patients with commercial plans to sign up for our retainer offering. We have a leaflet ready explaining the reasons why and how to contact our Congressman and Senators."
According to the poll many physicians simply cannot make up for the declining payments by increasing volume of patients seen.
For some practices, the bulk of the physician's patients are on Medicare/Medicaid, said Sermo officials.
"Medicare makes up about 50 percent of my practice. I cannot afford to stop seeing them all together right now. Either way I will have to significantly change my practice to reduce overhead to survive the cut," one physician told Sermo.
Sermo officials said many physicians polled are wary of what they believe to be an attempt by Congress to control the practice of medicine. Multiple doctors are demanding for fare wages and the end of price fixing in medicare they added.
The full polling results are available at the Sermo blog.
