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This is a political move by Obama's administration. Releasing names of all the doctors who bill medicare. I It's a slimy move. Why does't each politician release names of every single one of the donors? Why doesn't the administration release everything single dollar that's used by every contractor (including subcontractors) for every government expense.
"Supporters of disclosure say the information will help lead consumers to doctors who have the greatest expertise and who get the best results. For example, if you're about to undergo heart bypass, you could find out how many operations your surgeon did last year. Research shows that for many procedures, patients are better off going to a surgeon who performs them frequently"
If only that statement were true. Because many of the best docs own their own surgery centers (and hospitals) and mainly take private insurance. And the medicare data doesn't reflect that data.
The study is incomplete and should also provide the amount of kickback the drug companies pay those doctors.
I've only been on Medicare for less than a year and have concerns about the billing I have seen. Those same doctors will bill $700 + for a new patient exam, Medicare and my supplement don't give them 100% of what they want so they get a tax write off for the rest.
There is so much more to the different ways the medical community benefits unfairly off the backs of the suffering.
Why should this data be private? So doctors can rip off taxpayers and patients in anonymity? They need to be outed and shamed.
You've fallen for Obama's political moves. He's on a "divide and conquer" mission.
Mission 1: Get ACA passed no matter what. Lie if you have to and make it sound like it's a wonderful law. Check
Mission 2: Delay most major portions of the ACA until after 2012 elections (so as to not expose public to negatives about the law) Check
Mission 3: "oh crap" this ACA isn't rolling out as planned. Some people are now realizing they are going to be paying a lot more. Must to "spin control" Try to repair the law
Side Mission 3: Divide and conquer (why?) Because there's no way we can pay for this without medicare cuts. Half the ACA is "paid for" with medicare cuts. But I keep on having to push medicare cuts down the road because my Democratic party needs the votes for the mid terms. We MUST find a way to convince the public we need medicare cuts.
Easy, start focusing on medicare spending. Focus first on "greedy" doctors. Try to tell the public you are being "transparent" . Must of the public is too dumb anyway to understand raw medicare billing data.
So let's release the names of all the doctors. The liberal media will do the rest and sensationalize how much waste their is in medicare billing.
This is a political move by Obama's administration. Releasing names of all the doctors who bill medicare. I It's a slimy move. Why does't each politician release names of every single one of the donors? Why doesn't the administration release everything single dollar that's used by every contractor (including subcontractors) for every government expense.
"Supporters of disclosure say the information will help lead consumers to doctors who have the greatest expertise and who get the best results. For example, if you're about to undergo heart bypass, you could find out how many operations your surgeon did last year. Research shows that for many procedures, patients are better off going to a surgeon who performs them frequently"
If only that statement were true. Because many of the best docs own their own surgery centers (and hospitals) and mainly take private insurance. And the medicare data doesn't reflect that data.
The dems believe that the people were too stupid to make their own decisions, it's why they are trying to get the federal government to take over and make all our decisions for us.
There is absolutely no transparency the way this is done. Because the layman cannot understand
Unlike Canada where the govt is the only payer and no middle man involved (Canada does publish physician payments to the public)
Posting Medicare payments doesn't tell the public much if anything at all. Do you really believe the administration when they say the public will know who's doing the most cases and therefor they assume is "competent" by billing Medicare more? Read the press release by the Administration. It's spin after spin.
How about Anesthesiologist working for GI center covering 3-4 rooms getting paid $250k on salary. Yet gives up billing rights to a management company. The public doesn't know what an anesthesia management company is. They just think the doctor is "billing" medicare 1 million dollars.
For any real transparency they must publish all insurance (including private) charges each doc makes plus publish whether third party company takes a cut of the profit whether it's management company or hospital as W2 employee.
Raw data is meant to stir the public's emotion about fraud and waste. Of course there is fraud and waste. Always some bad seeds in any bunch. But the medicare fraud rate is down to about 3% already.
The Administration isn't focusing on fraud like they say. They aren't focusing on who's the best doctors by saying those who bill the most and doing the most cases are competent. It's just spin after spin.
They are releasing the data to show how doctors are getting "rich" off medicare. So it's ok to cut medicare reimbursement. They aren't putting in big letters, " DR. X billed $12000, and collected $7000 but the drugs cost $4000, the equipment he used and also his staffing". to the public it's $12000 Dr. X is getting.
The study is incomplete and should also provide the amount of kickback the drug companies pay those doctors.
I've only been on Medicare for less than a year and have concerns about the billing I have seen. Those same doctors will bill $700 + for a new patient exam, Medicare and my supplement don't give them 100% of what they want so they get a tax write off for the rest.
There is so much more to the different ways the medical community benefits unfairly off the backs of the suffering.
Next, I would like to see whether and how much of the ACA dollars are being used to fund only black colleges instead of providing medical care.
Doctors do not get kickbacks from drug companies. Please provide a link to a reputable source supporting your statement.
Doctors cannot bill the patient for the difference between the full charge and what Medicare actually pays. That is called balance billing. They do not get a tax deduction for the difference and they do not get a tax break for any bad debts.
Where do you get the idea the ACA is funding any black colleges?
The study is incomplete and should also provide the amount of kickback the drug companies pay those doctors.
I've only been on Medicare for less than a year and have concerns about the billing I have seen. Those same doctors will bill $700 + for a new patient exam, Medicare and my supplement don't give them 100% of what they want so they get a tax write off for the rest.
There is so much more to the different ways the medical community benefits unfairly off the backs of the suffering.
Next, I would like to see whether and how much of the ACA dollars are being used to fund only black colleges instead of providing medical care.
First, no insurance companies pay what is billed, and second, they do not get a tax write off for the rest. They get a tax write off for their losses, but thats averaged out over the year and only if they have a loss.
There is absolutely no transparency the way this is done. Because the layman cannot understand
Unlike Canada where the govt is the only payer and no middle man involved (Canada does publish physician payments to the public)
Posting Medicare payments doesn't tell the public much if anything at all. Do you really believe the administration when they say the public will know who's doing the most cases and therefor they assume is "competent" by billing Medicare more? Read the press release by the Administration. It's spin after spin.
How about Anesthesiologist working for GI center covering 3-4 rooms getting paid $250k on salary. Yet gives up billing rights to a management company. The public doesn't know what an anesthesia management company is. They just think the doctor is "billing" medicare 1 million dollars.
For any real transparency they must publish all insurance (including private) charges each doc makes plus publish whether third party company takes a cut of the profit whether it's management company or hospital as W2 employee.
Raw data is meant to stir the public's emotion about fraud and waste. Of course there is fraud and waste. Always some bad seeds in any bunch. But the medicare fraud rate is down to about 3% already.
The Administration isn't focusing on fraud like they say. They aren't focusing on who's the best doctors by saying those who bill the most and doing the most cases are competent. It's just spin after spin.
They are releasing the data to show how doctors are getting "rich" off medicare. So it's ok to cut medicare reimbursement. They aren't putting in big letters, " DR. X billed $12000, and collected $7000 but the drugs cost $4000, the equipment he used and also his staffing". to the public it's $12000 Dr. X is getting.
You are spot on the money (pun intended)!
From the original link:
"Among the highest billers were: a cardiologist in Ocala, Fla., who took in $18.1 million, mainly putting in stents; a New Jersey pathologist who received $12.6 million performing tissue exams and other tests; and a Michigan vascular surgeon who got $10.1 million."
"Not all of the top 10 physicians are keeping millions. 'A clear trend emerges from the data and from interviews with these physicians: The high cost of drugs is a huge driver of the robust Medicare payouts,' according to the Washington Post. A little more than half of the Medicare payments to the 10 physicians, or $61.9 million, went toward drugs and 'other costs.' Several physicians said their charges actually represent those of an entire practice, company or department.
Michael McGinnis, MD. A pathologist, Dr. McGinnis received the third-highest payout from Medicare in 2012 ($12.6 million). He said CMS' numbers don't tell the whole story. As medical director for Union, N.J.-based PLUS Diagnostics, he said the company uses his medical ID number for all of its billing. That means the $12.6 million in Medicare funds billed in his name really represents the work of 26 pathologists, he said, each of whom can complete hundreds of tests in a day, most of which are biopsies.
'The money doesn't come to me. It goes to the company. It goes to PLUS Diagnostics,' he said in the report.
Franklin Cockerill, MD. Dr. Cockerill is chair of laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He is No. 4 on the list with $11.1 million in reimbursements. But a Mayo spokesperson told the Washington Post Dr. Cockerill is the government-recognized director for Mayo Clinic Laboratories, meaning he is routinely listed as the billing physician on upwards of 23 million tests a year.
'When anything is billed out to Medicare, it will have Dr. Cockerill's name on it,' Andy Tofilon, marketing administrator with Mayo Medical Laboratories, told the Washington Post. 'He is the chair of a large laboratory medicine practice, and the buck stops at his desk.'
Vasso Gadioli, MD. A vascular surgeon from Bay City, Mich., Dr. Gadioli is No. 6 on the list with reimbursements totaling $10.1 million in 2012. He said he gets paid about $3,000 per procedure for inserting stents in his office, according to the report, but he said he is still saving Medicare money. If he did the procedure in a hospital, he gets $500, and the hospital receives $8,000, he said. About 70 percent of Medicare payments to Dr. Gadioli went to overhead.
John C. Welch, MD. Dr. Welch, an ophthalmologist in Hastings, Neb., sits at No. 8 on the list of top billers. Like most ophthalmologists on the list, a majority of his billings come from the shots he gives patient with macular degeneration. That money, he said, is passed onto drug companies. 'I don’t control what Medicare decides to pay the drug company,' he said in the report. Dr. Welch said he bills so often because he is only one of a few local physicians in a large rural area who can perform the procedure, which leaves him working a 12- or 13-hour day.
Minh Nguyen, MD. Dr. Nguyen is a hematologist-oncologist at five-physician Orange Coast Oncology in Newport Beach, Calif. He was listed as the 10th-highest biller of Medicare in 2012. Dr. Nguyen said all the billings for chemotherapy drugs at his practice were under his name. This means it looks as though he is getting paid $9 million, 'but it's a pass-through,' he said in the report. 'The majority of the billing goes to pay the drug companies.'"
I would say the Medicare data dump is lying by omission. That is hardly transparency.
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