Physicians concerned about MACRA’s impact on care, finances
Primary care physicians who support the goals of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA)'s changes to reimbursement have some concerns about how its quality reporting will affect their bottom lines and how they care for patients—particularly if the patients aren’t listening.
USA Today offered one such example. Arkansas family physician Mark Miller, MD, supports the MACRA rule but wonders how he can avoid a financial hit from patients like Tim Layman, who has high blood pressure but stopped taking his medication years ago because he has been "made this way and ... not concerned about it.”
“The downfall of quality reporting is that some patients, because of diet and lifestyle, are going to have more heart attacks,” Miller says. “That makes me look worse than the quality of care I’m really trying to deliver to the patient.”
The problem may be worse for doctors who don’t understand what the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requires of them. And judging by surveys since the final MACRA rule was released, many physicians fall into that category.
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.