Stakeholders look for common ground on Medicare reform

The AMA's National Advocacy Conference gave visiting physicians the chance to talk with policymakers about changing the program.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. March 12, 2007.

Washington -- Speakers representing different camps in the debate over Medicare payment system reform urged doctors at the AMA's National Advocacy Conference to work with them toward agreement where possible, despite potentially competing interests.

Representatives from Congress, AARP, and the managed care and pharmaceutical drug industries acknowledged at last month's event in Washington, D.C., that money is tight and the demands on the payment system are intense. Physicians are pushing again this year for a Medicare fee cut reversal and government-negotiated prices for prescription drugs. But some conference participants noted that doctors are not the only ones who have a stake in the outcome of the congressional debate.

"No one will walk away from the table of Medicare reform with absolutely everything that they want," said Kirsten Sloan, AARP's chief health lobbyist. The group remains concerned about Congress boosting reimbursements to physicians because beneficiary premiums would rise as a result unless lawmakers implemented Medicare cuts elsewhere.

Sloan and other participants called on doctors to work with senior groups toward consensus by starting in areas where they already have agreement. Promoting more health information technology and evidence-based clinical research, for instance, could help address some existing problems without major financing reform, she said.