What does this mean to you?
Government healthcare doesn’t work! A multi – billion dollar 
healthcare provider has already done the research for you and the results…
They lost $120 million dollars last year. How much did you lose on Medicare patients? How much will you lose in Healthcare Reform?
Effective January 1st, 2010 the Glendale, AZ Mayo Clinic stopped seeing ALL Medicare patients saying the U.S. Government pays too little.
Mayo Clinic spokesperson Michael Yardley states “More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale.” While many doctors state the Medicare fees to be too low, not covering or barely covering the costs of services are they willing to do anything about it?
Robert Berenson – fellow at Urban Institute Health Policy in DC has a different angle, feeling that the fees are not to low but rather we do not have enough primary care physicians to carry the burden properly. And states “Claims physicians are making about inadequate reimbursements are overstated.”
No matter what side of the fence you are on (reality vs. theory), the coming one will be an interesting one with Mayo’s decision leading the way for other providers to reconsider their Medicare participation.
#1 by Chris Carraway, DC DIBCN on January 11th, 2010
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Kudos to the AZ, Mayo Clininc. That is a bold move. In many cases I am being paid less today for a service than I was being paid when I started practice 25 years ago.
Concerning Robert Berenson’s observation that the low fees are a function of inadequate numbers of PCPs to carry the burden sounds like double talk. The to do not seem to be related at all.
I would like to hear his explaination on the mathematics relating low fees and the number of PCP being too low.
Chris Carraway, DC DIBCN
#2 by Susan on January 12th, 2010
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I agree with Glensdale. The government don’t understand how long doctors have to spend with Medicare patient’s and they should get reimbursed for their time. Unfortunatley, for the Medicare patients they are the ones who really have to suffer not the government because all they see is money that is not going into their pockets and Medicare patients are paying the price to be able to get the proper care they need by a doctor to treat them for preventative care or problems they already have.
#3 by Sherry Krueger on February 1st, 2010
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Doctors are always on the track to see more patients. More often than not more patients does NOT equal more money. The Medicare system is bankrupt, It only makes sense that if doctors continue to see medicare patients the system withh bankrupt them as well.
Sherry L. Krueger
http://www.hna-net.com