Buh-Bye!
21st June 2010
Doctors weary of the low reimbursement rates and uncertainty surrounding Medicare are deserting the program in record numbers, USA Today reports. A host of medical associations report non-participation rates of as much as 31% (for primary-care doctors responding to an American Medical Association survey). Physicians say the reimbursement rates, which were 78% of private insurers’ average payments to doctors in 2008, make participation financially unfeasible. CMS reports a 97% overall participation rate but an agency official tells the paper that CMS is concerned about program members’ access to primary-care doctors.