Attached you find a recent article discussing the declining physicians reimbursement.
In this article Cecil Wilson, MD, Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees is quoted "(the survey) confirms what they (physicians) already know from their own practices: payments are not keeping up with inflation."
Several (depressing) highlights of the article:
- average physician's net income declined 7 percent from 1995 to 2003, after adjusting for inflation, while incomes of lawyers and other professionals rose by 7 percent during the period.
- primary care doctors, who are already among the lowest-paid physicians, had the steepest decline in their inflation-adjusted earnings — a 10 percent drop —contributing to decreasing numbers of primary care physicians.
- while the general inflation rate was 21 percent during the period, payments from Medicare rose only 13 percent, according to the study, and payments from private insurers rose even more slowly.
- Among Medicare beneficiaries, the number of minor procedures grew 6 percent a year on average during the eight years that physician income fell, the report said.
This year we will have to battle the same issues again and we need the support of each and every physician in Florida.
If you are not a member JOIN NOW. Motivate your colleagues to join. Our AMA saved every physician who is participating in Medicare THOUSANDS of dollars. Joining the AMA is a wise investment.
Remember, all insurance carriers follow Medicares reimbursement guidelines. That means if Medicare cuts the fees ALL of them will follow.
We need to stop Medicare cuts now and in the future. We need all of your support !!! JOIN or REJOIN NOW!
Yours truly,
Bernd
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Doctors' Average Pay Fell 7% in 8 Years, Report Says
The Dr. Smiths are having trouble keeping up with the Mr. Joneses.
A report planned for release today indicates that the average physician's net income declined 7 percent from 1995 to 2003, after adjusting for inflation, while incomes of lawyers and other professionals rose by 7 percent during the period.
The researchers who prepared the report say the decline in doctors' inflation-adjusted incomes appears to be affecting the types of medicine they choose to practice and the way they practice it — resulting in fewer primary care doctors and a tendency to order more revenue-generating diagnostic tests and procedures.
Primary care doctors, who are already among the lowest-paid physicians, had the steepest decline in their inflation-adjusted earnings — a 10 percent drop — according to the report by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonprofit research group in Washington.
The average reported net income for a primary care physician in 2003 was $146,405, according to the study, after expenses like malpractice insurance but before taxes. The highest-paid doctors were surgeons who specialize in areas like orthopedics, who had an average net income of $271,652, nearly double what the primary care doctors said they earned.
The report was based on a national telephone survey of roughly 6,600 physicians in 2004 and 2005 and earlier surveys by the research center. "These are large enough changes that physicians are responding," said Paul B. Ginsburg, the center's president and a health economist.
Doctors, he said, are reacting to the financial incentives under the current payment system by choosing to specialize and work in fields where they can increase their income by providing more services, like diagnostic tests or procedures, he said.
Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, the chairman of the board of the American Medical Association, said that for practicing physicians the survey "confirms what they already know from their own practices: payments are not keeping up with inflation."
Mr. Ginsburg said that during the eight-year period in the study, payments from Medicare and commercial insurers had indeed lagged general inflation.
While the general inflation rate was 21 percent during the period, payments from Medicare rose only 13 percent, according to the study, and payments from private insurers rose even more slowly. Medicare sets physician payments under a formula that has been widely criticized, but so far Congress, which oversees the program, has not addressed some of the issues involved.
The current Medicare payment system, for example, rewards physicians for entering fields like cardiology or gastroenterology in which they can perform a procedure or do a test. Doctors like psychiatrists or primary care physicians, who spend their time evaluating or diagnosing patients, do not have as many of those options for generating additional revenue.
"Physicians have responded to the stagnant fees by producing more visits as well as more procedures," said Mr. Ginsburg. Among Medicare beneficiaries, the number of minor procedures grew 6 percent a year on average during the eight years that physician income fell, the report said.
The lower income of primary care physicians is also resulting in fewer medical students entering family medicine, said Dr. Rick Kellerman, the president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians. And most doctors going into internal medicine are choosing to specialize rather than become general internists, he said, adding that the financial disparities may result in an eventual shortage of primary care physicians.
"What it is going to come down to is problems with access," in which patients wanting the services of a primary care physician will not be able to find a doctor able to see them.
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