Doctors payments to be cut by Medicare on December 1

Unless Congress intervenes, payments to doctors for treating Medicare patients will be cut by 23 percent on Dec. 1 and another 6.5 percent on Jan. 1. In recent years, the payment formula has called for cuts, but each time lawmakers have stepped in to block them before they took effect or shortly afterward. In April, the Congressional Budget Office said that blocking the cuts until January 2012 would cost about $15 billion. A long-term formula fix, through 2020, would cost about $276 billion, it said.The American Medical Association is gearing up for the lame-duck congressional session scheduled to start Nov. 15. If nothing happens the tough decisions for physicians. The reality is between now and the end of December physicians have to make a decision about their status related to Medicare. Do they want to continue participating and take the cuts?

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