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AACE survey reveals impact of eliminating of Medicare consultation codes on endocrinologists
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A survey conducted by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists indicates that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decision to eliminate consultation codes will force four out of five endocrinologists to reduce the number of Medicare patients seen in their practices.
The CMS decision, which will go into effect in January 2010, will no longer allow endocrinologists and other specialists to bill for consultations provided for patients referred to them by primary care physicians and written reports will no longer have to be provided to referring physicians, according to an AACE press release.
The survey queried more than 1,000 AACE members in the United States. The majority (90%) indicated that their practice is at least 40% more focused on diabetes care; 84% currently offer consultative services for patients with diabetes in the hospital; 72% are actively seeking new patients with diabetes on an outpatient basis; and 18% currently serve as an internist for patients with diabetes.
Results indicated that, with the new CMS decision in effect, 50% of respondents would curtail their Medicare in-office consultation availability and 32% would stop seeing Medicare consultation patients in the office. Moreover, 32% would curtail their Medicare in-hospital consultation availability and 21% would stop seeing Medicare consultation patients in the hospital.
“The new CMS rule threatens to marginalize the critical role clinical endocrinologists play as consultants — at a time when our nation is facing a diabetes epidemic and we are striving to coordinate complex medical care for an increasing number of our patients,” Jeffrey R. Garber, MD, AACE president and Endocrine Today Editorial Board member, said in a press release.
According to Keep the Codes, the AACE campaign to oppose the CMS proposal, the decision has the potential to reduce the quality of patient care and coordination of care; marginalize specialized care for patients with complex medical conditions; exacerbate workforce shortages and discourage the pursuit of fellowships in cognitive specialties such as endocrinology; and affect the integrity of data used for quality improvement initiatives and health services research.
AACE is currently seeking to delay the new policy. Meantime, the organization is encouraging health care professionals to write letters to members of Congress and sign the online petition to reverse the elimination of these codes online at Keep the Codes.