It's a Perfect Time to Reform Medicare Physician Payment
<p>The growth in overall health spending, including Medicare spending, has slowed over the past few years, and that trend is beginning to affect long-term projections. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that it would cost $138 billion to replace the formula used to determine Medicare physician fees, which is just about half its previous estimate in June 2012. </p><p>In a <a href="/blog/2013/changing-way-medicare-pays-physicians-strike-while-iron-hot">new blog post,</a> Stuart Guterman, Commonwealth Fund vice president and executive director of its Commission on a High Performance Health System, says that "the new, lower estimate provides an opportunity to replace the existing payment formula with an approach that promotes high-quality and efficient health care." </p>
<p>Guterman outlines a set of policies proposed by the Commission that would replace the current payment formula and achieve savings that would more than offset the cost of repealing it. </p>
<p>Visit <a href="~/link.aspx?_id=0B67ACA7A5CB453CB876F3DB59E19448&_z=z">The Commonwealth Fund Blog</a> for the complete post. </p>