Press Release

MMA Contacts:
Scott Smith, MMA Media Relations Manager, 612/362-3726 (O), 612/940-2727(C), ssmith@mnmed.org

Terry Ruane, MMA Director Marketing and Communications, 952/738-1300 (C), truane@mnmed.org

[MINNEAPOLIS, December 21, 2011] Congress has again failed its responsibility to avert a Medicare crisis by adjourning without stopping a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians.

Physicians across the country are expressing anger about Congress’s inability to act to protect Medicare. “Members of Congress, including our own Minnesota delegation, vowed to stop this cut, and now they have broken that vow once again,” said the President of the Minnesota Medical Association, Lyle Swenson, M.D. “Minnesota’s seniors, disabled citizens who use Medicare, and military families served by Tricare deserve better from our elected officials. Make no mistake the blame for this rests squarely with Congress.”

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a bi-partisan Senate bill Tuesday that would have averted for two months the cut scheduled for Jan. 1. The cut is generated by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula, which is used to update Medicare physician payment rates. SGR is a flawed formula because it is based on changes in GDP and not on changes in the cost of providing health care.

A week earlier, Democrats in the Senate rejected a House bill that included a Medicare physician payment increase of 1 percent for two years, because in part it included higher premiums for seniors and cut funding for programs created by the Affordable Care Act. At this time, it does not appear likely that the outstanding issues will be resolved before Jan. 1. If the 27 percent cut goes through, it would result in a loss of $270 million for the care of elderly and disabled patients in Minnesota, according the American Medical Association.

On average, a cut of this magnitude will reduce 2012 practice revenues by $19,000 per Minnesota physician. “A vast majority of Minnesota physicians participate in the Medicare program and want to continue to do so,” Swenson said. “But I am worried that if these cuts go forward, clinics will have to make some difficult business decisions that may result in reduced access to care for Medicare patients.”

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced it will hold physician claims for ten business days starting Jan. 1, in order to avoid paying out claims at reduced rates. If lawmakers cannot agree on a fix by Jan. 17, CMS will be forced to apply the 27 percent cut.

“It is time for Congress to learn its lesson and pass a permanent solution that ends this national embarrassment that threatens senior’s access to care and the financial viability of Minnesota clinics,” Swenson said.

With about 10,000 physician members, the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) is the largest professional association in the state representing physicians, residents, and medical students. As the state's premier physician organization, the MMA is improving the practice of medicine and shaping health care policy in Minnesota by working with lawmakers, insurers, state agencies, and other health care organizations.