Cuts in Medicare payments to physicians, 34% over nine years, will harm seniors’ access to care, according to findings of a new survey by the American Medical Association. (Click here to download the survey findings.) Next year’s 5% Medicare cut will cause 45% of the physicians surveyed to decrease or stop seeing new Medicare patients. By 2015, when the cuts are in full force, 67% of physicians say they will decrease the number of Medicare patients they see. Survey respondents also said quality improvements will get sidetracked as Medicare payments plummet. Over the next nine years, 73% of physicians say they will defer purchases of new medical equipment and 65% will defer purchases of new information technology. “The current flawed Medicare physician payment system places seniors’ access to care at risk year after year by tying payments to the gross domestic product, instead of the healthcare needs of seniors,” says AMA president J. Edward Hill.
