Reuters -- AMA Demands Senate Action to Fix Medicare Pay

Delegates gathered for the interim meeting of the American Medical Association's House of Delegates are considering a nationwide demonstration--including brief work stoppages--to force Congress to rescind scheduled cuts in Medicare physician payments.

Last year Medicare part B payments were cut by 5.4%, and a 4.4% cut is slated to kick in February 1, 2003. The AMA contends--and most Washington observers agree--that the cuts are the result of "documented mistakes" in the payment formula known as the Sustainable Growth Rate. Last month the House of Representatives approved a bill that "fixed" these errors, but the Senate adjourned without taking action.

The AMA is now demanding that the new Congress make the payment fix the first order of business when it convenes in January. Failing to do so will limit Medicare patients' access to care, according to an AMA board of trustees report.

Dr. William E. Golden of Little Rock, Arkansas, a delegate from the American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine, said in an interview that the combined cuts reduce the average physician income by about 20%.