Medicare reform bill may include bonuses, increases for MDs

If Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) gets his way, pending Medicare reforms will offer physicians several new payment options, including bonus payments and increased payments. That, at least, is the word coming from the Senate Finance Committee, according to a report in Modern Healthcare. Not only is Baucus amenable to halting the planned 10 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for more than 18 months, he's also prepared to seek a 0.5 percent increase for next year. What's more, he'd like to increase the bonus doctors receive for participating in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative to 2 percent from 1.5 percent. His bill also would include an e-prescribing provision that would first give bonuses to doctors who install the technology, then penalize doctors by 2 percent in 2013 and beyond for those who don't adopt it.

To learn more about the pending bill:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece (reg. req.)

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