August 2007 | Back to Table of Contents

MMA News

Physicians, Seniors Urge Congress to Stop Medicare Cut

The Minnesota Medical Association, the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Minnesota Senior Federation joined together in July to urge Congress to stop a proposed 10 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

The groups held a news conference in St. Paul that generated media coverage by news outlets such as Fox 9 News, Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota News Network, WCCO radio, and the Star Tribune.

During the press conference, Rebecca J. Patchin, M.D., an anesthesiologist from Ontario, California, and an AMA Trustee, said that a national survey of physicians found that 60 percent of doctors would limit the number of new Medicare patients they can treat if the 2008 cut goes into effect.

The MMA conducted a similar survey in 2005 that found 53 percent of physicians would reduce the number of Medicare patients they saw if a smaller 4.4 percent cut went through.

Of Minnesota, she said, “the state’s nearly 654,000 Medicare patients need to know that Medicare cuts will devastate their access to care.”

Patchin told how in her home state, seniors in communities such as Santa Cruz already must travel to a different town to see a doctor because of a shortage of physicians who can afford to treat Medicare enrollees.

Minnesota is expected to lose $74 million in payments in 2008 and nearly $3 billion during the next eight years if Congress doesn’t fix the physician payment formula it implemented in 2001.

The formula is problematic because it is tied to the gross national product, rather than the true cost of delivering health care. This causes physician payments to decrease when patient demand, prescription drug costs, and the need for new technologies increase.

MMA President G. Richard Geier, M.D., said Medicare payment rates for doctors are already too low to support clinics that treat the elderly.

He quoted stories the MMA recently collected from physicians:

• An Edina physician who treats a large number of disabled patients has reluctantly decided that he can’t afford to accept new Medicare patients.
• A Duluth family physician says that the current Medicare reimbursement doesn’t cover the costs of staff, utilities, insurance, and maintaining equipment. He doesn’t even charge for nursing home visits because the reimbursement is less than the processing cost. He and his colleagues are strongly considering not seeing Medicare patients anymore.
• A family physician in Willmar says that half the patients in their rural group practice are on government programs. A 10 percent reduction will require them to cut back services to their patients.
• A surgeon at a metropolitan county medical center says he regularly sees Medicare patients who have had difficulty getting care because there’s a shortage of practitioners willing to see them.

“You can’t afford to make [the shortfall] up on volume … so what happens is that the rural areas lose doctors,” Geier said.

Both Geier and Patchin encouraged the public to urge Congress to stop the cuts and protect seniors’ access to care.

The House was drafting a bill that would avoid the cut and provide physicians with 0.5 percent pay increase for two years by raising the cigarette tax and reducing the subsidies that insurers receive for offering Medicare Advantage plans.

Medicare Advantage plans receive payments that are about 12 percent higher than those offered through fee-for-service Medicare. “We think taxpayers no longer need to subsidize these insurance companies,” Patchin said.

Barbara Kaufman, a Senior Federation board member, said she has heard stories from Minnesota seniors in rural areas who say they must drive 100 miles to see a specialist or who cannot change physicians because of a lack of options.

MMA Thanks Lawmakers

The MMA and physicians around the state have been thanking lawmakers who voted for the Freedom to Breathe law that takes effect October 1.

Physicians from Owatonna Hospital, Southdale Pediatrics, and several other organizations have presented lawmakers with certificates of appreciation.

The goal is to thank more than 100 lawmakers for their support of the legislation.

Introducing AMA Therapeutic Insights

The Minnesota Medical Association, in cooperation with the AMA, is pleased to announce a new online quarterly newsletter that provides unprecedented access to state and national prescribing patterns to assist Minnesota physicians in clinical practice.

Each issue of AMA Therapeutic Insights focuses on a different disease, providing drug therapy information, disease demographics, and practice guidelines.

The first newsletter focused on migraine in adults; the second, released in June, covers type 2 diabetes. The September issue will focus on dyslipidemia.

Minnesota physicians can also earn CME credit by reading AMA Therapeutic Insights. To view the newsletter, go to www.ama-assn.org/go/therapeuticinsights and select Minnesota in the drop-down box.

MMA Members Shape Reform

The Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty have both convened groups charged with making health care reform recommendations during the 2008 legislative session.

MMA members are participating in both of these groups that will frame what is expected to be a significant health care reform debate at the Capitol next year.

MMA members serving on work groups created by the Health Care Access Commission, the Legislature’s reform group, include:

• George Schoephoerster, M.D. 
• Donald Jacobs, M.D. 
• Bruce Cantor, M.D. 
• Sarah Jane Schwarzenberg, M.D. 
• Marc Manley, M.D.

MMA members serving on Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Health Transformation Task Force include:

• Maureen Reed, M.D. 
• R. Scott Wright, M.D.