Changing the way it does business, Medicare on Friday unveiled a far-reaching overhaul of how it pays doctors and other clinicians.
The goal is to reward quality, penalize poor performance and avoid paying piecemeal for services for the program’s 57 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Whether it succeeds or fails, it is one of the biggest changes in Medicare’s 50-year history.
The complex regulation, nearly 2,400 pages long, is meant to carry out bipartisan legislation passed by Congress last year. Its full implementation will take years.
Some clinicians have questioned whether the new system will force small practices and solo doctors to join big groups. On Friday, the Obama administration sought to calm their concerns.
– The Washington Post