I visited the Cardiologist today and here is a letter all should read and be upset about: There are probably about 8-10 cardiologists in this practise so it is not a small problem to The Villages Community..!!
"The 2010 Medicare Fee Schedule mandates that on January 1, 2010 severe cuts in cardiology physician fees will begin. This cut is being phased in over four years because the government used flawed data to make their calculations. In addition, there are Congressionally mandated cuts of more than 20 percent in all Medicare physicians fees, regardless of specialty. The results of these combined government policies are that our practice is facing cuts ranging from 25 to almost 50 percent.
Such drastic reductions in fees are going to seriously hamper our ability to continue to see you, our patients as we do today. We feel the need to warn you that these reductions will translate into decreased services for patients, cuts in staff, probable transfer of care to the hospitals resulting in delay in needed care. Please understand the hospitals cannot handle the mass influx of patients who will be needing services thar they once received in our office. Making sure you have the best quality of care will always be our number one priority. Caring for people is why we all dedicated our lives to heart patients. In the very near future it is going to be a difficult climate
to operate in our current manner.
We have built our office facility and trained our staff to best take care of each patient. We believe that the care you receive is critical to your quality of life. With these cuts we may not be able to provide some of the services that patients have come to depend on and in the long run; if the current policies are not changed we may be forced to close our doors.
As a cardiovascular patient we urge you to contact our lawmakers about the impact of our changing practice on you. The law is clear-we face cuts unless Congress acts. In advance we thank you for understnding our changing environment."
There are other facts to follow..