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The Business of
Health Care Report
In the past year, physicians and other health practitioners
have experienced a sharp across-the-board reduction in their Medicare payments, forcing doctors to choose between
limiting or eliminating their Medicare patients and closing up shop. Either choice leaves many - Medicare beneficiaries and others -
with limited or no accessible health care. Nearly 30 percent of family physicians in the Unites States are not taking
new Medicare patients, according to a report from the American Academy of Family Physicians. Despite 1999 legislation that attempted to reduce the volatility
of Medicare formula updates, large and unpredictable payment swings with potential cuts of more than 5 percent a year
still occur. Under current law, Medicare's physician payment rates are projected
to fall by 12 percent over the next three years. Texas physicians' losses due to the 2003-2005 cuts total about $695
million - or $17,841 per physician. This comes on top of a 5.4 percent payment cut, which cost Texas doctors a total of
$139.4 million or about $3,768 per physician in 2002. The losses come at a particularly difficult time because many Texas
physicians have recently faced steep increases in their liability insurance premiums. In the past year, many saw premiums
rise by 69 percent despite the fact that some general surgeons and obstetrician/gynecologists were already paying $130,000
to $160,000 for this coverage. In 1999, the state had 16.5 Medicare-participating physicians per
thousand beneficiaries, which was above the national average. Since that time, however, several large group practices
have withdrawn from Medicare and migration of many younger people into the state has reduced the availability of physicians
to treat the elderly and disabled. The combination of Medicare payment cuts and steep increases in liability
insurance premiums could spur many of these physicians into action, potentially exacerbating the existing access problems in
Texas. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO Doug
Hawthorne with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio
1080 KRLD.
©
2002 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 