Physicians Urged to Meet with Federal Lawmakers to Discuss Medicare Payment Reform
[Posted 08/16/07]

CMA encourages physicians to meet with their federal lawmakers to discuss the Medicare/Healthy Families legislation that will be taken up by a joint House/Senate conference committee when Congress reconvenes in September. This legislation is critical to preserving access to care in California. Federal lawmakers are in their home districts this month during Congress’s summer recess.

The U.S. House earlier this month passed a bill that would stop the 15 percent physician pay cut and institute .5 percent payment increases for the next two years. It would also update California’s geographic payment localities and prevent any geographic payment reductions for three years.  Additionally, it would reauthorize the Healthy Families program.

The Senate, however, passed a scaled-down version of the House bill, without the Medicare provisions. Because of this discrepancy, the physician payment reforms are at risk of being scaled back. It is important for physicians to make their congressional representatives understand that stopping the 15 percent payment cuts planned over the next two years is critical to preserving access to care for Medicare patients.

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Contact: Elizabeth McNeil, 415/882-5176 or emcneil@cmanet.org.