Originally Posted by ssmith

Again what I meant to enforce is that Cardiology has been hit the hardest of all specialty groups. Medicare has cut reimbursement across the board 40%. I reviewed this today with our head Cardiologist.

The problem is that there is no fat to cut in Cardiology. We don't order tests that are not needed or do procedures that are not needed. Cardiolgists are not Cardiovascular surgeons and so they do not get paid the big bucks of a surgeon. They do Cardiac Catheterizations and stents and some peripheral cardiovascular and or renal stents. All of which are only done if needed.

What my group has done is join a large umbrella goup that is a part of our local hospital. This umbrella group then takes up the slack from other groups to keep them floating. The end result was that no one lost jobs or had to cut services.

This has nothing to do with the upcoming changes in Health Reform. It is in effect today- started Jan 1.

My point is to shed light on the original post regarding the letter they received from their Cardiologist.

Hope this has cleared up some of the misunderstanding. This is why I don't see this as political.

Thanks