Physician leaders divided over publicizing Medicare payments

Physician leaders are split over whether the government should release information on Medicare reimbursement payments to physicians, according to a poll conducted by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE).

In the e-mail survey, for which 588 members responded, 46 percent said that such payment information should not be made public, while 42 percent disagreed. An additional 12 percent were unsure, according to an announcement on the findings.

The poll followed a federal court judge’s decision to overturn a longstanding injunction that prevented the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from releasing information about payments to individual physicians. CMS is currently soliciting feedback on whether physicians have a right to privacy regarding the reimbursement information. 

Members who favored keeping the information private said the data can be easily misinterpreted by the public and could unfairly cast physicians in a negative light. Others said reimbursement is determined by a complex number of factors, such as geography, medication cost and type of procedure, and that translating such information would be too cumbersome.

“What purpose does this action serve? Publishing the amount of Medicare reimbursement without some form of normative information provides no useful information for consumers,” wrote Kenneth Maxwell, MD, from Winston-Salem, N.C., according to the ACPE.

“This is not a form of transparency that will benefit budgeting, planning or patient care,” said James C. Salwitz, MD, from New Brunswick, NJ, in his comments.

Physician leaders in favor of payment transparency said the public has a right to know.

“We live in an information age. We should be able to look up online where our money is going at all times.” wrote Daniel McDevitt, MD, FACS, from Atlanta, according to ACPE.

ACPE CEO Peter Angood, MD, said the divided view indicates that CMS should invest time in exploring the matter as much as possible before reaching a decision.