WASHINGTON – Doctors caring for the elderly and the disabled will see a 5 percent cut in reimbursement rates when they treat Medicare patients next year.
But in an effort to give more personalized care, the government will pay physicians more to counsel patients on ways to improve their health.
Doctors warned that that the lower rates would lead to fewer doctors taking on new Medicare cases.
The new rates were announced in rules the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made public yesterday.
Doctors are paid for 7,000 different services. The average cut for a particular service is 5 percent; some services are reduced more, while other services are increasing.
Doctors were not happy about the announcement, which they had expected. Nearly half of physicians face payment cuts ranging from 6 percent to 20 percent.
