AMA Survey: Physician's Limiting Medicare Patients

There are over 815,000 licensed physicians in the US. Over 9,000 physicians participated in an online survey conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) regarding Medicare patient services.
Survey Results:

About 1 in 5 physicians (17%) are currently restricting the number of Medicare patients in their practice.  Out of that 17%, one-third are primary care physicians.  The top two reasons for the restriction are: Medicare payment rates are too low and the ongoing threat of future payment cuts makes Medicare an unreliable payer. 

Nearly two-thirds of the physicians surveyed have considered opting out of Medicare and treating patients through private contracting in response to the 2 short-term delays of the 21% cut just this year. 

If Congress enacts a short-term payment freeze with a 21% cut, 54% of physicians will restrict the number of Medicare patients, 50% will not accept new Medicare patients, and 31% will stop taking any Medicare patients. 


For more survey questions and responses, download the pdf version at AMA.