A hoped-for delay in cuts to physician Medicare reimbursement was not enacted before Congress recessed for spring break.

"Members of Congress eager to spend a two-week holiday with their families have left America's military families and seniors to fend for themselves through their inaction on a known threat to the Medicare and [military] TRICARE programs," AMA President J. James Rohack, M.D. said in a statement Friday.

The inaction means that a 21 percent cut to physician Medicare reimbursement begins April 1. Practitioners have long called for a permanent fix to the annually renewed Medicare physician payment formula. Most recently the issue has been taken up from month to month. Doctors may end up limiting the number of Medicare patients they can see, AMA warns.


"Physicians told Congress back when they created this payment system that it would not work, and for nearly a decade Congress has enacted short-term actions to stop increasingly steep annual cuts. This year, Congress has dealt with the problem on a month-to-month basis, and now for the second month in a row they failed to act in time. This is causing severe instability for seniors and physicians, causing problems for vulnerable patients who rely on Medicare and TRICARE," Dr. Rohack said.

Instead of a stable funding plan for Medicare services, doctors await their fate each year as federal allocations are debated anew. It was hoped that at the very least a postponement would be codified and the Senate and House had voted for postponement till fall. But the temporary delay was not part of the historic health reform bill or add-ons sent to the president for his signature.

It is possible that when Congress reconvenes April 12 it may enforce a retroactive delay in cuts.

Watch DOTmed News for further coverage.

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