Executive Commitee

Russell Roberts, MD
President

James Campbell, MD
President-Elect

Mark Dawson, MD
Vice President

John Fleming, MD
Secretary

Herbert Muncie, MD
Treasurer

Bryan Picou, MD
Immediate Past President

Act Now to Prevent 10 Percent Medicare Payment Cuts

Your voice is needed! Please contact your Senators to support a critical bill that would prevent the 10 percent Medicare payment cut on Tuesday July 1 st. If this happens, it could leave Medicare patients in Louisiana with minimal options and less funding for health care coverage. A bill being proposed to Congress would provide family physicians with 18 months of Medicare payment updates offering stability to physician practices and time for Congress to find a long term solution to the broken payment system. An additional 5 percent cut is scheduled for January 2009 unless Congress acts in time to prevent this crisis. According to data released by the American Medical Association, in Louisiana, more than 700,000 patients will be affected by these changes. Your Senators need to hear from you. Please contact them today, and explain to them how the scheduled cuts would affect your patients and your practice.

Act today by:

• Using Speak Out to reach your senators
• Visiting the AAFP Medicare Action Center for tools and resources to help you engage your colleagues, patients, and community to help keep your doors open to Medicare patients.

For more information regarding the Medicare cuts and proposals by the AAFP, click on each of the links provided below:

• Recommnedation from AAFP to Congress regarding Medicare Physician Payment Issues - patching the 18 month formula
• Recommendation from AAFP to Congress regarding Medicare Physician Payment Issues - after the 18 month period of payment stability
• AMA Brief: What physicians need to know about Medicare Payment Reform
• Medicare Physician Payment Reform