Ninety-two of North Carolina’s 100 counties have shortages of healthcare professionals, resulting in an “untenable” situation for the state’s physicians, according to Ms. Turner. Adjusted for inflation, Medicare payments to physicians have dropped 29% since 2001, leading Ms. Turner to call for action from political leaders.
“As it stands today, many of America’s private physician practices will be unable to meet the growing demand for care from aging Baby Boomers,” she writes. “Unless policymakers fix the problems with our Medicare payment system, the United States will decline toward lower-quality care and long waits for treatment.”
A bipartisan group of physician lawmakers in Congress, led by Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, is working on a plan that would tie physician reimbursement to inflation, which already exists in the form of annual inflationary adjustments for hospitals, skilled nursing centers and hospice care. The Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act would link the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to the Medicare Economic Index, a measure of the average annual price change for market basket inputs that includes physician compensation and practice expenses.
This could bring meaningful changes to rural communities, which also face cuts to CRNA reimbursements and maternal care, specifically.
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