Bush Proposal to Slow Medicare Spending Could Hurt FPs

The Medicare Funding Warning Response Act of 2008 would require HHS to develop a plan to ensure that at least 50 percent of the care provided by Medicare would be covered by value-based or pay-for-performance measures by the year 2013. That move could saddle family physicians with much of the cost of meeting the requirement because many of the performance measures apply to primary care, said Kevin Burke, director of the AAFP’s Division of Government Relations.

Under the Medicare Funding Warning Response Act of 2008, the federal government could also withhold a portion of payments to physicians based on their ability to meet quality and efficiency standards, forcing them to compete for limited payments, Burke said. Certain quality-related provisions, such as those dealing with electronic health records, pricing transparency and value-based purchasing, would not be implemented unless they saved money.

Source: www.aafp.com