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Previous Volume 346:1924-1930 June 13, 2002 Number 24

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The promising efforts of the Bush administration and Congress to fix Medicare's troubled relationship with physicians have suffered a sharp setback. On the basis of a formula prescribed by law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented an across-the-board reduction in Medicare fee-for-service payments that averaged 4.9 percent and took effect January 1.¹ The unwillingness of Congress and the Bush administration to provide a quick fix for the payment reduction was an early omen of the challenging days that lie ahead for Medicare and the 550,000 physicians who provide care to the program's 39 million disabled or elderly . . . [Full Text of this Article]

The Evolution of Medicare Payments to Physicians

Schedule of Physicians' Fees

Effect of the Fee Schedule

Updating Physicians' Payments

Comparing Medicare and Private Payers

The Status of Balance Billing

The Role of Politics

Conclusions

References

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