Monday, December 22, 2014

OBAMAmess: Medicare to Cut Payments to Some Doctors and Hospitals

More than 257,000 U.S. doctors will see their Medicare payments cut by 1% next year because they didn’t meet federal goals for using electronic medical records, said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Some 28,000 providers will be docked another 1% of Medicare pay for not prescribing medications electronically. About 200 hospitals were informed in October that they also will lose 1% of their Medicare payments in 2015 for missing a deadline for EMR use.
The rules, part of the 2009 stimulus package, were designed to spur the health-care industry’s transition from paper files to electronic record keeping. Initially the law offered lucrative incentive payments if providers could demonstrate “meaningful use” of EMRs.
About 400,000 providers have received bonus Medicare payments since 2011 for meeting goals, such as installing an EMR system and using it for ordering tests, X-rays and other purposes. But under the law, those incentives gradually are replaced by penalties for physicians who aren’t participating.
Those facing fines in 2015 missed a key deadline in 2013. The cuts will be levied on every Medicare bill during the year, even if the doctors and hospitals have since complied.
A CMS spokeswoman said the affected doctors are being informed of the fee cuts by mail. In a statement, she said CMS is working with health-care providers to improve “quality through the use of electronic health records.”
The American Medical Association said it was “appalled” by the news of the fines, which affect more than 50% of physicians who treat Medicare patients, said AMA president-elect Steven J. Stack.
Physicians have long complained that the meaningful-use rules were overly rigid, particularly for small practices, and the fledgling EMR industry has struggled to keep up. Some have qualified for hardship waivers.
Read the rest of the story HERE.

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