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Diagnostics
Health Care Reform and How It Will Impact Your Practice
| Author: Nicole Skinner |
| Article Date: 4/24/2010 |
As we all know, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R.3590) on March 23, but how will this impact physician practices? According to the American Medical Association, this Act will mean that Medicare payments to physicians will improve and increase. Some incentive plans with take effect immediately while others will span over a course of 5 years.
For instance, Medicare payments will increase 5% for mental health services in 2010. From 2011-2016, primary care physicians will receive a 10% incentive bonus for Medicare charges. The same will apply to general surgeons who perform major surgery in health professional shortage areas.
Medicare will reduce GPCI payment adjustments for expenses in low cost and rural areas for this year and next. There are a couple of minor incentive payments for voluntary participation in quality reporting programs. However by 2015, reduced payment and penalties will apply to those that do not participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
For more information on other changes and to read the full article. Go to the American Medical Association website.