Declining GI Medicare Reimbursement

Declining GI Medicare Reimbursement
It Stinks, Let’s Stop Complaining and Focus on Improving Management Strategies

By John Poisson

MEDICARE FACILITY FEES have been frozen since April 1, 2004, as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). During these past 30 months, your local costs have continued to increase. In fact, the consumer price index (CPI) for medical services has risen somewhere between 7 percent and 13 percent, dependent on where your ASC resides. Thus, your Medicare facility fees have, in a sense, already been cut each year since 2004. Fees remain frozen again in 2007 — Happy New Year! — as you have another 2 percent to 5 percent “phantom decline” facing you over the next 12 months.

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