Medicare Opt-Out Rate Among Physicians Triples in 3 Years

There were 9,539 physicians who opted out of Medicare in 2012, however there were still 685,000 physicians enrolled to participate in Medicare last year, according to an article The Wall Street Journal.

The number of opt-outs tripled in 2012 when compared with three years prior. Medicare generally reimburses at a lower rate than other payers, which could be a factor in the provider's decision to opt out.

"We believe this is highly prevalent in spine and orthopedics," says Scott Becker, JD, partner at McGuireWoods.

Additional opt-out activity could be driven by penalties for Medicare-enrolled providers who don't meet meaningful use requirements beginning in 2015.