Neurosurgeons say they are very concerned about the current Medicare
payment system and fear that beneficiary access will be affected unless the
rate formula is fixed.
A national survey of about 680 neurosurgeons revealed that while most
participate in Medicare, many have been or are considering limiting the
scope of their involvement. Nearly 40% of neurosurgeons said that if
payments continue to decline, they will see fewer new Medicare patients;
18% would not take any new patients. The survey results were released Feb.
10 by the American Assn. of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of
Neurological Surgeons and the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies.
More than half of neurosurgeons say they will stop providing certain
services, and nearly 53% will reduce the time they spend with Medicare
patients, the survey found.
"These results really do paint a bleak path we are going down," said Troy
M. Tippett, MD, AANS president. "Many neurosurgeons in our survey indicated
that if Medicare payments continue to decline, they would stop providing
certain services, reduce staff, defer purchase of new medical equipment,
reduce time spent with Medicare patients and begin referring complex cases
elsewhere."
Over the past three to five years, neurosurgeons said they have encountered
several key changes in the environment for Medicare patients, including:
* Increased difficulty in referring Medicare patients to certain
medical and surgical specialists (67%).
* More physicians referring patients with complex problems (65%).
* Beneficiaries who need to travel farther to obtain needed care
(64%).
* A reduction in the number of Medicare patients in neurosurgery
practices due to low payments (59%).
Although the survey found problems nationwide, it concluded that Medicare
patients in the Southwest were facing particular difficulties in finding
neurosurgeons who could treat them.
The survey is available online
(www.aans.org/legislative/aans/pdfs_neurohealthcarereform/medicaresurveyreport-020910final.pdf).
The full and original article can be found here:
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/02/22/gvsd0224.htm
If you are looking for a product such as Buy Hyalgan, Surgiderm, Orthovisc, Synvisc, Sculptra, Radiesse , Hyalgan, Botox, Restylane, Orthovisc, Synvisc, Sculptra, Radiesse or Juvederm at a price lower than what we are offering on our site please contact us and we will meet or beat it.
