ACP reports on how scheduled Medicare pay cuts will affec...(s may be affected by the Medicare cuts. ...),Health

Almost a third of the internal medicine physicians said they would discontinue seeing new Medicare patients if the 10.6 percent cut goes into effect.

In my geographic area, as much as 50 percent or more of an internal medicine practice consists of Medicare-aged patients said a practicing physician in Florida. Our office gets dozens of calls each week for new Medicare patients wanting to establish care with our physicians.

If we are to endure further cuts in an already under-reimbursed sector of our patient base, the doctor continued, we will likely stop accepting new Medicare patients. Its something most internists in the area will be forced to do. And it will cause an even greater access-to-care crisis than is already the case in our area.

While nearly nine out of 10 responding internal medicine physicians said they will make changes to their practices, 30 percent said they already have taken some steps to make changes in their practices in anticipation of the scheduled Medicare cuts. The changes they have taken include not accepting any new Medicare patients; postponing capital purchases for their practice; and reconsidering plans to purchase health information technology.

Also reflecting a frustration about patient-access was the finding that 48 percent of the physicians who already have made changes to their practices said one of their changes is accelerating their plans to retire from practice. And, 62 percent of the physicians who indicated they will make changes if the July cut takes effect said that they will further accelerate their plans to retire from practicing medicine.

Seventy-two percent of respondents said Medicare patients already need to put in a high level of effort to find a primary c
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