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Saturday, January 07, 2006The Medicare cut may not sound like much, but it translates into a loss of about $2-3 per patient visit. And it isn't just limited to Medicare patients. Insurance companies base their rate of reimbursement as a percentage of Medicare fees. They might, say, pay 110% of whatever the fee Medicare pays. A practice that sees 25-30 patients a day will make $50-$90 less a day in 2006. That adds up quickly. Assuming a five-day work week, that adds up to $13,000 to $23,000 less over the course of the year. And despite what you might read in the newspapers, the majority of patients who pass through a doctor's office have health insurance - so the cut goes across the board. How does that translate into day to day life? It means that my staff didn't get a cost of living raise this year. It means that I'll have to drop their health insurance if the premiums increase. And it means that I'm working harder - double booking patients when I can and adding an extra half day to my work week. Hopefully, I'll break even and avoid a decline in my own wages. I resent terribly the fact that Congress controls my pay. I'm a virtual civil servant - without the generous pension and benefits. And it doesn't help when they turn around and give themselves a pay raise. My only consolation is, that by making less, I'll be paying them less in taxes. UPDATE: This doesn't help, either: The United States Postal Service, after a fashion, announced weeks ago that the price of a first-class postage stamp was going up to 39 cents, a 2-cent increase. Tomorrow. ....At the Farley Post Office, one of the nation's largest, there were no signs announcing the increase, which the Postal Service said was a result of a Congressional act in 2003 requiring it to put aside more than $3 billion each year into escrow, beginning this year. Congress has not yet decided what the rainy-day fund should be used for. The Postal Service, which last raised rates in 2002, posted a profit of $1.4 billion last year. Without the extra money required by Congress, the service said in a news release, "postage rates most likely would have remained at current levels until 2007." What do you suppose they'll use that money for? Bridges? posted by Sydney on 1/07/2006 03:13:00 PM 9 comments 9 Comments:
Your pay has not been cut by 4%. If you have a typical primary care practice, your overhead is ~60% of revenue, so even if your other expenses remain static (unlikely), your pay is cut 10%. If your other expenses (rent, electric and phone bill, insurance, salaries) go up by the 4% cost of living index, you have an effective 20% pay cut. Feel better?
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The senate's budget proposal has frozen MCR payments at the 2005 level, meaning no rate cut. The house is expected to follow suit and is supposed to vote on it before the end of january. So your reimbursement will be cut for one month only.
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Anonymous,
Anon 8:03PM,
Anon 8:03 is correct- both the Houae and Senate have passed corrective legislation to reverse the cut, but they are not the same bill due to unrelated discrepancies. Congressional action is likely to reinstate reimbursement to 2005 levels, and it will be retroactive to Jan. 1. So, if the currently most likely scenario plays out, the claim you file today for the office visit you did last week will be paid next month at 2006 levels (~4% less than last year), Then, when your carrier receives the updated 2006 (=2005) fee schedule, you will receive the 4% "raise," and your billing staff will have to reverse the old 2006 write-off and enter the new 2006 (=2005) write-off. It only doubles the workload for your billing staff for a month or so of Medicare (and any other fee-linked plan). If you're lucky, only a few of your Medicare patients will call and demand to know why their monthly statements are more indecipherable than usual.
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Syndey,
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Hi, I like your blog you have here. You seem to have a good one going. Just thought I'd leave a comment. Have fun blogging.
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Hey. I was just out blogging and stumbled across yours, I like it. Keep up the good work!
By That's why OB's are leaving in droves: http://www.medicalspasonline.com/the-blog/2006/3/24/obs-are-dropping-babies-for-botox.html
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