The American Medical Association said it will fight efforts to create a pay-for-performance reimbursement system for Medicare unless Congress agrees to a permanent freeze in government-set payment cuts for physicians. On Monday, AMA CEO Michael Maves sent a letter to CMS administrator Mark McClellan warning that the doctors' lobby is prepared to go to war over the contentious issue if its demands are not met. As part of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, Congress scheduled a 4.3 percent reimbursement cut for January 2006. Usually these cuts are over-ridden at the last minute, but with the Iraq war and Katrina hitting the deficit, the physicians seem to have run out of friends in Congress and may be hitting an empty well.
- see this article from The Hill