Physicians facing more cuts

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Dear editor,

Physicians practice medicine to treat and heal patients and each of us

swears an oath to do all that is medically possible. However, Congress

must acknowledge an essential aspect to the practice of

medicine-physicians must also maintain a business. Without a financially

stable Medicare program, we will be forced to make some difficult

decisions regarding Medicare patients.

Because of a flawed formula used to calculate how physicians are paid

under Medicare, physicians are facing severe cuts for the tenth year in a

row; 26.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of physicians have

called on Congress to replace this formula with a system that takes the

economics out of the physician-patient relationship. Decisions should be

based on need and diagnosis – not the bottom line, yet the band-aid

approach by Congress threatens the stability of the Medicare program and

puts access to care at risk.

Physicians are the foundation of our health care system. We not only

provide care to our patients, but we serve as their advocates and

facilitate health care services on their behalf. All physicians value

this responsibility. However, at some point economics take hold. The

costs associated with providing care have surpassed payments for services

for many physicians – especially those involved in general internal

medicine, family medicine and general surgery. As a result, they must

constantly evaluate their participation in Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

We are all faced with making difficult decisions, but whether or not to

treat a patient because of this flawed formula should not be one of them.

Sincerely,

Kevin P. Hubbard,

Lee’s Summit

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