Raeford, North Carolina, family physician Karen Smith, MD, said that to keep providing services, Medicare payment reform is crucial for physicians who accept Medicare patients and are “practicing in a state of unknown.”

“When we see reductions in regards to the payment from Medicare, that has impact in terms on the business operations that will also impact the services that I can provide,” said Dr. Smith, who is among the practicing physicians and AMA members who have taken time to share their firsthand perspectives on the impact of unsustainable Medicare physician payment in interviews with the AMA.

“When there is a reduction in terms of our payment for Medicare, I now have to rethink how we have developed our value-based payment model and determine what can I cut—something that we’ve proven to be useful, something that has been proven to allow savings in terms of cost—and now we’re going to cut an investment that we made to provide those services.”

The AMA is leading the charge to reform the Medicare payment system, which is the AMA’s top advocacy priority.

Learn how you can take part in the fight to fix Medicare on behalf of your patients and practices at the AMA's Fix Medicare Now website.