MONTPELIER – Vermont’s senior citizens are facing the possibility of decreased access to physicians and medical services if Congress fails to block a planned reduction in Medicare payments.

Medicare is planning to reduce physician payment by 5 percent for all doctors, beginning January 1. These cuts are being made because of a flawed physician payment formula which fails to take into account the increasing costs of providing care to patients. In addition, payment to Vermont’s doctors will be reduced by another 1.68 percent due to the expiration of geographic equity adjustments that were enacted in 2003 with the strong support of the Vermont Medical Society.

As a result of these across-the-board cuts and the changes in payment for different procedures, more than half of Vermont’s physicians would be hit with cutbacks ranging from 6 percent to 20 percent, depending on their specialty.

Many independent Vermont doctors are already struggling to keep their practices open, said Paul Harrington, executive vice president of the Vermont Medical Society. Costs such as office rent, supplies, labor, and medical malpractice insurance have been climbing steadily, while payments for physician services have been flat or declining. Medicare is currently paying physicians at the same rate it did five years ago, even though the average cost of running a physician practice has gone up 20 percent.

Cutting Medicare payments in 2007 would make it difficult for Vermont physicians to continue practicing medicine as usual, Harrington predicted. About 90,000 Vermonters on Medicare could be affected.

“Surveys have shown that if these Medicare cuts are allowed to go into effect, about half of physicians nationwide say they will be forced to decrease the number of Medicare patients they care for or stop seeing new Medicare patients altogether,” said Harrington. “This will have a devastating impact in Vermont, where we have one of the oldest populations in the country and the number of senior citizens is continuing to increase rapidly.”

“Any cut in Medicare payment puts all physicians at risk,” said Dr. Frank Landry, a primary care physician in Burlington. “Overhead is increasing while reimbursement is flat or declining. If the cutback takes effect, each physician will have to decide whether to continue seeing new Medicare patients.”

The cut could affect senior citizens in other ways, he said. Declining Medicare payment means physicians cannot afford to hire the staff they need or provide as many services. That hurts seniors’ access to care. Physicians will not be able to invest in electronic medical records because they lack the necessary funds, he added.

The ability to recruit new physicians to rural areas of Vermont would suffer, Dr. Landry says, because the payment levels in Vermont are lower than other areas of the country.    

Congress returned to Washington this week for a lame duck session, and is expected to meet again in early December for one more session before adjourning. The Vermont Medical Society is urging Vermonters to contact the state’s congressional delegation and ask them to pass legislation that provides for an increase in Medicare’s physician payment that reflects the increases in medical practice expenses.

Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation are:

Rep. Bernie Sanders  800-339-9834
Sen. Patrick Leahy  800-642-3193
Sen. Jim Jeffords  800-835-5500

-30-

For more information, contact: