Mass. Medical Society protests Medicare cuts

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Medical Society is protesting a proposal by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to change how practice expenses are calculated, noting that it would reduce Bay State doctors’ pay rates by 3 to 6 percent, effective next January.
The cuts are separate from a 23 percent cut in the Sustainable Growth Rate payment formula that is scheduled for Dec. 1.
The Medicare payment formula is adjusted to reflect geographic differences in practice costs, such as wages, energy and rent. The proposed change would reduce the weight of those differences, negatively affecting Massachusetts, where costs are well-above average.
The Medical Society is arguing that the changes are wholly unsupported by the data, and that they abrogate promises made during the health care reform debate, when Congress agreed to delay changes that could hurt high-cost urban areas until at least 2012. •