Providers uneasy as Medicare pay cuts loom

With a Dec. 1 deadline looming for a scheduled 23-percent cut in the federal Medicare reimbursement rate, providers have begun warning that unless Congress acts, they may be forced to no longer accept new Medicare patients (Source: “Doctors brace for possible big Medicare pay cuts,” Associated Press via The Washington Post, Nov. 13, 2010).

While a reprieve of a few months may be the likeliest outcome, there is no guarantee that the lame duck session of Congress will be able to produce a compromise agreement that resolves a rate cut that neither Democrats or Republicans publicly support.

The scheduled rate reduction is the result of balanced-budget legislation passed in the 1990s that calls for scheduled cuts in the rate providers are paid by Medicare. However, the cuts have been routinely postponed by temporary measures.