Correcting the flawed physician payment formula is something that I have been working hard at since being contacted by hundreds of doctors and patients in East Tennessee.  At a time when Americans are facing skyrocketing health care costs, we cannot discourage doctors from seeing Medicare patients by reducing their Medicare reimbursement. 

On June 27th the House passed the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003 with my support.  Under this legislation all physicians and providers paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will see a 1.5% payment increase instead of a 4.2% payment cut in 2004.  An additional 1.5% increase will replace another cut in 2005.

This legislation also addresses the volatility in physician payment updates over time.  The formula will be changed to use a 10-year rolling average measure of Gross Domestic Product instead of the current single year measure.  In addition, Medicare will pay a 5% bonus to physicians providing care in rural and other scarcely populated areas to help recruit and retain physicians.