Medicare is significantly changing the way physicians practice medicine and in turn, impacts their relationships with patients, according to the Washington Examiner.
Here are eight facts about Medicare:
1. The government will spend $626 billion on Medicare this year. More money is spent on Medicare than any other government program aside from Social Security, with more money planning to be allotted toward Medicare with the aging of the population and increasing healthcare costs.
2. By 2040, the baby boomers as well as the disabled will increase Medicare enrollment to over 88 million. This will result in Medicare consuming one out of every five dollars of the federal budget.
3. Medicare will not pay for patient transfers to a skilled nurse facility for rehab if the patient has not spent at least three days as an inpatient in a hospital. Patients who could have outpatient procedures have the procedures done in hospitals so Medicare will cover the procedure.
4. Medicare implemented a system of price controls for physician services in 1989, setting strict regulations for what physicians can charge Medicare patients. The new system paid more for shorter visits as opposed to longer visits because the pay-per-minute for shorter visits is greater than those for longer visits.
5. Patients deem high quality physicians as those who spend a substantial deal of time with the patients. However, Medicare penalizes those physicians who spend more time with their patients.
6. Patients cannot pay physicians more than Medicare allows because it is illegal for a physician who is in the Medicare program to accept out-of-pocket payment from a Medicare patient.
7. CMS's two midnight rule additionally puts physicians in conflict with patients. The rule makes it very challenging for physicians to keep a patient in a hospital or inpatient facility for more than two days without admitting that individual as an inpatient.
8. Accountable Care Organizations compensate physicians based on the health of their patients. ACOs also pose a dilemma for physicians as to whether they should save money or treat the patient. Many physicians choose to reduce costs which will result in a lack of quality care for patients.
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