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It’s that time of the year, folks. Elections are coming up, there’s a bunch of infighting going around, and lots of new policies are being thrown around to see what will stick the landing.
However, none have caused more uproar amongst physicians than the reported 3% pay deduction for doctors all across the country by Medicare.
And, well, yeah. That oughta do it. In a time when money is already being stretched thin as it is, another pay cut sounds like the opposite of a solution. Especially when the pay rate was already on a pause when it came to any adjustments, thanks to Congress.
But inflation is at an all-time high, and it doesn’t look like the upper brass is willing to be lenient with anything, least of all healthcare. Hence, the proposed 3% reduction for doctors nationwide.
So, what does that mean for us in the long run? And what ramification will it have in the not so distant future? Is there a countermeasure being proposed or is all that protesting landing on deaf ears? Lord knows finance talk leaves me confused too, so let’s break it down together!
- Why is Medicare proposing a pay cut in the first place?
- How are our organizations reacting to the news?
- Who is the reduction going to affect?
What’s The News?
Okay, so before we tackle everything, let’s get the actual news straight.
There is a pay cut that is being proposed by CMS where Medicare costs will be adjusted in a way that will reduce physician salaries by 3.4% come next year, in 2025.
Now, the CMS, or the Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services, has actually done this before. For the past five years, regulators have come forward and tried cutting the conversion factor down but they never fully succeeded, because Congress would block the move from proceeding.
They tried last year, where a 3% conversion rate would set the pay cut at 1.25%, but that got halted when legislation for a temporary boost in service got approved. And really, that has been the pattern for a while where Congress steps in, keeping us physicians from feeling the worst of it.
So, while these reductions never really take full effect, they still put medical bodies on alert because of the risk they may pose. Hence, all the outcry from organizations such as the American Medical Association, also known as the AMA.
So, Why Is This Happening?
Well, to answer why this keeps happening means going into a bunch of taxations and rules that would literally make this article a too long, didn’t read type of scenario. So, let’s just discuss the Sparknotes version of it.
According to the press release that followed this new proposal coming in, it was all about patient healthcare.
There was talk of how this pay reduction would ultimately benefit those in need of primary care, help support caregivers and nurses, and even expand Medicare’s reach in terms of mental health and dental services.
Then, a reimbursement program is planned for health professionals willing to train family caregivers, ultimately removing a huge chunk of pressure from primary care providers regarding minor health issues.
I mean, who doesn’t want a wider net to aid everyone under Medicare’s umbrella? Don’t we all want a better functioning healthcare system, equipped with better training for staff in both procedures and sensitivity? When you keep all of this in mind, it’s worth it.
And obviously, the legislators said that they are keeping the physicians in mind as, with the CMS directly reinforcing their commitment to support for doctors and patients both. So, it’s a win-win, right?
What Does It Mean For The Rest Of Us?
I’m going to be very honest with you: you can’t uplift patient care by sacrificing physicians and their labor.
And that isn’t my take on this new proposal. It’s everyone else’s too. The medical fraternity decided to speak up en masse about it, saying CMS’s solution of reducing doctor’s pay was a very temporary solution to a chronic problem.
The head of the AMA likened the problem to ‘putting a band-aid on when a patient is in a dire situation.’
Which, yeah, that absolutely checks out. The problem isn’t that doctors don’t want affordable care for everyone. That is pretty much a given and the specter of universal healthcare isn’t some daunting thing for all of us.
But what is actually needed is a proper legislative solution instead of these temporary injections of money into Medicare that don’t last. That too on behalf of the physicians who are also feeling the pressure of inflation.
Because let’s be real, this isn’t about the celebrity consultants living it up in Beverly Hills. The real people that get hurt by CMS’s new policy are all the general and family physicians that are already working overtime while being underpaid.
It just isn’t feasible to run a primary care practice on a reduced salary when so many patients are involved.
The reports coming in show just how much practice is struggling to cater to the sheer number of patients coming in – with very little support from the government. It isn’t cheap to run a medical clinic, especially when you count in all the resources needed.
There are staff shortages going around, not to mention physical and mental exhuastion.
And this also explains why we are facing a lack of active physicians in the field. No one wants to work for reduced pay, horrible hours, and the threat of contracting illness themselves.
Medicare vs. the Physician Fraternity?
I mean, that’s essentially what this is. Of course physicians are feeling betrayed. We were already dealing with so much, and nobody has forgotten the stress of being on the frontlines during the pandemic.
Doctors were the first line of defense during a time when the entire world was collapsing. And the thanks we got for that was reduced pay, even more workload than before and no actual fixing of a system that feels more than just broken.
One example that shows how Medicare needs new management is the fact that physician payments have gone down 26% when not adjusted for inflation.
And the work required from physicians has only gone up.
This isn’t even talking about the heat hospitals must be feeling. They are already pretty short staffed, especially when you consider hospitals in low income and more rural areas. How do they make it work with even more money being taken away from them?
No wonder doctors everywhere feel burnt out. Who wouldn’t, in this case? Medicare was supposed to be the answer. And yet mismanagement of funds is hurting it and the people it serves.
Final Thoughts
The problem isn’t with universal healthcare, let’s get that straight. Accessible quality healthcare is and should be a basic human right.
But it shouldn’t come at the cost of healthcare workers being exploited to death. Which is exactly what these pay cuts end up feeling like. They feel like a very weak response to a very big issue that no one wants to completely address.
So, whether the 3% pay cut is incoming or not isn’t the issue for the physician community. It’s about how much more we can take before we lose all hope in medicine as a career.
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3 thoughts on “What’s Up, Doc: The 3% Medicare Pay Cut Controversy”
Why do you use the word ‘salary’ for medicare reimbursement. In non-hospital owned practices – doesn’t the reimbursement cover all the expenses of a practice, staff, rent…
The problem is that something has to give. It’s simple math. If we scale MD payments to inflation and the costs go up then taxes need to go up to cover or perhaps we need to cut a big piece of the administrative pie.
Direct primary care, for those able and willing to pursue it, solves this problem. It was a happy day when I opted out of Medicare!