What you can do to stop proposed Medicare payment cuts... Proposed Medicare Payment Cuts - Your Toolkit Involve Your Patients in the Discussion As you know, CMS has proposed several technical changes in how payments are calculated that add up to an overall 11% decrease in Medicare payments for cardiology services. As if the 11% were not bad enough, most of the core cardiology services face cuts ranging from 10 to 40% as a result of data from an AMA practice expense survey. Add in the regularly scheduled SGR cuts of more than 20% and practices could see possible payment cuts ranging from 25 to almost 50 percent, without Congressional action. What can you do? Know the Issues • Key points of the proposed Medicare payment cuts: Click here • ACC website info: Click here • ACC CEO Jack Lewin's blog: Click here • ACC Advocacy Twitter feed: Click here Take action - Contact Congress & CMS • Take action and write to Congress: click here • Take action and call Congress using ACC's toll-free grassroots hotline 800-210-7193 • Take action and send a message to CMS with your thoughts on how these cuts will affect your practice and your patients. CMS reads and reviews all comments; the more cardiology professionals that write in, the better. Comments can be sent to CMS via the following website: click here • Attend the ACC Legislative Conference September 13-15, 2009, in Washington, DC: click here Get your patients involved! Flyers for your patients - suggestion: print these on a color printer or work with your local printer to enlarge to poster size -- hang them in your office. Flyer #1 Help Protect Your Cardiovascular Care Flyer #2 Congress Holds Your Heart in Its Hands Flyer #3 Your Access to Cardiovascular Care is at Risk Template letter and online message link to give to your patients: suggestion: have this letter printed out on blank paper (NOT your office letterhead) & addressed to senators/representatives with pre-addressed envelopes attached for your patients to send. Patient Letter to Congress - click here Patient electronic message to Congress via Legislative Action Center - click here Sincerely, Bill William F. Graettinger, M.D., F.A.C.C. President Nevada Chapter, American College of Cardiology