Cuts in medicare and medicaid are about to take place
Posted By: Defict Reduction Act on 2006-12-06
In Reply to: EMR - Just found out today that one of my biggest accounts has gone to EMR. SM - MTSO
I have mentioned this but it was always deleted as I think the monitor thought I was talking politics.
There will be a marked decline in coverage for services to medicare and medicaid patients and I believe to offset this, medical facilities are finding ways to cut costs.
The cuts will be significant. You could do a Google search for Deficit Reduction Act. Radiology will be most severely hit, especially stand alone facilities.
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
Many physicians in my area don't want to take Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare
or other insurances because the insurance companies require a huge buydown of charges and then disallow quite a bit for being "above the reasonable amount."
For example, I had double insurance of Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Tricare when I had surgery. The bills totaled $15,000. Blue Cross knocked $5,000 off the physician's $7,800 bill, paid him $600 and left Tricare and me to deal with the $1,200 balance. Tricare wouldn't pay because they disallowed the amount as unreasonable, the physician's office forced me to make payments on it, and I had to fight just so I didn't owe them another $1,200. It was ridiculous that I had double insurance coverage and wound up owing anything. Meanwhile, the doctor didn't even get paid that much, and he did my presurgery appointments, the actual surgery, two postsurgery appointments to remove hardware, plus coordinating everything between cardiology, radiology, anesthesia, laboratory, surgery, and having special equipment trucked in from out of state.
If I had not had insurance at all, I would have had to pay the entire amount. I think it's crazy that noninsureds have to pay the full amount but insurance companies can disallow or buy down the amounts due. Anyway, you hit a big rant of mine. Shortly after I lost my Blue Cross coverage, my son needed to be seen but we couldn't find a provider to even take Tricare at all. So much for my husband serving his country and being away from his family in the line of duty. The doctors get rich and refuse to treat military personnel who fight for their freedom. Talk about a total lack of appreciation.
Will I not get paid if the hospital isn't reimbursed with Medicare/Medicaid?
I was told by a coworker that California is in so much debt that I may not get a paycheck if CA goes bankrupt because the hospital I work for will not be getting subsidized any longer....
could this be true?
But because of having Medicaid...sm
Those who abuse the Medicaid system look at it like who cares when I take my child, it'll be paid for. The ER docs know when Friday night comes, in comes tons of children who could have seen an walk-in doc all week long.....these are not urgent cases. The moms sit on cell phones, talk to everyone, it becomes a free for all night at the ER.
The uninsured and those with Medicaid
often use the ER for their medical care. I was in the hospital with gastroenteritis because I was having syncopal spells from dehydration. While still undergoing testing in the ER there was a woman on the other side of the curtain who had a headache. She called a friend on her cell phone and had her friend come keep her company. They talked nonstop. I have migraines and I want quiet when I have them. This woman had never even taken anything for the headache, just came to the ER. An incidental finding was thrush because she had a baby and when the baby dropped the pacifier the mother stuck it in her mouth to "clean" it.
I also type ER reports. What gets me is when the patient has abdominal pain for 2 weeks and never sought treatment, then decides to come to the ER.
Our local "indigent" ER is also in the only hospital to take pediatric patients, so if we should have to go to the ER we go to that one. We thought my son had appendicitis and took him and were told they had no acute beds and he'd have to wait, yet they took several with flu symptoms ahead of us, so he was considered acute but not only no bed, but no care. Although as I type this, I'm thinking we had no insurance at the time as DH has changed jobs and we couldn't afford Cobra. We were less than a week away from having insurance, but had none at the time of the visit, although we did pay the bill in full, so maybe that played a factor in things.
I asked about this too, you can get medicaid if you get hospitalized and spend a certain amount.
If you have out of pocket expences equalling up to 2000, then you can get Medicaid. I think it is still based on your income, but it is not as strict as it normally is. You have to still pay that first 2000 but they do help with future bills.
SE Medicare and SS are taken out, not fed tax.
I looked on the IRS website. You do get a SE W2 and then you can deduct business expenses to lower your fed tax, but you still are responsibile for fed tax yourself. I double checked at the IRS website.
Question about Medicare.
I hope I'm posting on the right board, but here it goes. My elderly mother was in the hospital back in January and on Friday received a bill from a nephrologist who saw her briefly once and billed Medicare $375 for his in-hospital consultation. Medicare paid them $15.68, they "wrote down" $240.40 and the supplementary paid $3.92, and now they are billing her $115. This is the first time she has ever received a bill from anyone as her insurance has always paid. I keep thinking that they have used a wrong CPT code for their billing as it is beyond me that Medicare would only pay $15.68 for an in-hospital consultation. I will have to wrangle with these people tomorrow, but wanted to know if anyone had any opinions about this and feels like I do. I don't think this is her deductible amount as she had seen many physicians before him seeing her in the hospital. I know I will also have to call Medicare to see if in fact they are the ones that got their bill in first and this is in fact her yearly deductible, but as they say, knowledge is your best tool before someone tries to pull the "wool over your eyes."
yes..they are taking out for SS and Medicare...
a friend of mine said when she wasn't making that much money she had them withold an extra 10.00 for federal so i may have to do that...
It's the only place I have ever lived.. Great place to retire or raise a family. Low crime rate e
living is pretty easy here. Low stress..
Forgot to say this was for Medicare Supplemental Insurance (NM))
nm
Your national is liable for SS and Medicare tax not you. They thinkyou are self employed. nm
:
I've actually found Medicare very easy to deal with...
wouldn't dread the call. It will probably go better with Medicare than with the nephrologist.
Yes, you're cranky. The docs may be instructed to do so to appease Medicare or other such entity.
x
Medicare is offering free installation of EMR to physicians and hospitals.
http://www.medscape.com/px/instantpollservlet/result?PollID=1502
If government is involved, it will be as screwed up as the Medicare medication program.
Heaven save us from all these wanna be kings that sit on top of the hill.
We got cuts when we went to VR.
nm
And we got cuts when we went on DQS.
 Actually, I guess you can't say they gave us an actual pay cut, HOWEVER, you sure don't make the money you made on the old platform. That also isn't true because you can make the same money - it just takes LOTS longer. In my eyes, that is a pay cut.
MQ pay cuts
I'm rather new to this board, so forgive me if this has already been discussed. I work for MQ as a SE and received the "letter" but I know nothing about pay cuts. Have I missed something?
Yes, they do so many more cuts because...
they have to do them so fast to keep up the quota. I reluctantly took my 2 kids there a couple weeks ago and yet again (it happened a couple years ago too), they could not even trim a child's hair. I actually had to send my daughter back to the chair because there were long pieces of hair hanging down past the level of her hair. My other daughter looked like she went 3 rounds with a weed whacker... I had to pay more money to have it fixed at another place. This was 2 different stylists, more than one event. They are know in the stylist world as "chop shops" I have gone cheap and I have paid more and I can definitely tell the difference.
There need to be cuts
What's wrong with someone receiving medicaid paying a copayment? I hear grumbling over this all the time, but you sure see some of them in the grocery store buying an expensive 24 pack of beer, yet they want to complain over paying a 10.00 copay? Medicaid was designed to be temporary assistance, not a way of life. I have no problem with helping lower income, but not handouts. I have neighbors in their 20s, healthy as horses, who don't even try to work. They have 4 children with them, the husband has 2 by other women, and they collect 700 a month in stamps plus 300 in cash because she claims he doesn't live there. They do NOTHING, nada
As for Medicare, I believe if retirees make over a certain income they should not be eligible at all. I read that even retired movie stars worth millions of dollars get full medicare benefits.
Cuts
I used to work for Kodak and as most everybody knows they went through years of layoffs and always around this time of year. The reasoning for it was that the department heads had to have their budgets in for the following year and so you had to cut everyone before the new year started. It sucks but that is they way corporate America works.
Dee
oh our lovely government does give illegals medicaid, foodstamps, and housing so in term we give tha
i have been through some rough times lately and had to apply for some help. there are signs, big signs, all over our offices saying "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE LEGAL TO GET HELP". so we and our government do give them our benefits whether they are legal here or not. now that is messed up. i am helping to support them so they can take away my jobs and i can't even support my kids and yes i get benefits, wow $75 a month in food stamps which lasts not even a week in a household of 6. don't get me wrong, i am thankful for any help at the moment, but i get penalized for trying to work my tail off and still can't survive.
there was recently an article in our local newspaper where one of our local school districts tried to charge $1000 a year for each illegal student enrolled. it was bulked and the illegals got a lawyer to sue for discrimination. the school district merely stated that they had to HIRE extra teachers that could speak the foreign language just to teach these children and were trying to offset some of the expenses. ridicilous!! so again our taxpayers money is paying to educate illegals as well.
MQ pay cuts, My Two Cents
When MQ first bought up the smaller co. I was with, all of the accounts were still intact. I was pleased when my office (Baltimore now, but at that time, still in the Herndon area) offered up increased pay differential for an extremely difficult account.. hallelujah, I thought... and thought that all the worries I had about the Big Bad MT Company eating up the small company I was with were maybe unwarranted. I jumped on this opportunity to actually get paid for doing more difficult work - but was told by my supervisor, well, you already make too much money per line (actually, per 1,000 characters at the time). She of course welcomed me to the account at regular pay - I passed!
Add in that I have not had a pay raise since this same time frame (7 years) ... not exactly a direct pay cut, I guess, and add in the seemingly unprovable decreased pay over the last 7 years... well, that's my 2 Cents. None of it makes sense.
Possible pay cuts, my experience so far
I have been with MQ since 1998 and have 20 years experience as an MT, editor, and MT instructor. I currently make 10 cents per line and in past yrs have been told I am at the top of various tiers also, so not eligible for raise (for life??) bonuses (some, not all), etc. I too received the letter mentioned above, the one about rewarding "YOU for your skill and performance."
I am still on INET, though attempted without success to move to DQS (only have dial-up available where I live, and the ADT searches and other processes were a nightmare without some sort of high-speed internet). In the process of almost going to DQS, my pay conversion remained the same, 10 cents per line. Though this may sound higher than others are making, I have been making the same thing for 8 years now - but yes, compared to what I see on this board that other MQ-ers are making who have same experience or more, I am grateful and surprised. The company I was with that MQ bought out gave us decent raises, and I had just received one before MQ acquired us, and it carried over, thankfully. Little did I know it would be my last raise for that many years.
Anyway, I eventually will have to go to DQS even on dial-up, pay an arm and a leg for satellite, or quit and go to a new company - all options, woohoo, involve pay cuts. I can't even imagine an additional pay cut for ASR, as this makes no sense to me. ASR is an AID, no different than Expander programs (do we get paid less for other things that make us more productive??!) We should get paid for whatever characters/lines we modify on an ASR report and get paid the same as we would for doing straight MT work. Maybe this has already been said here, sorry if repeat!
So, I am wondering what they will knock my pay down to when I finally get over to DQS and get put on the ASR reports... I'm not sure I will accept this pay cut either.
On another note, I am glad for those of you who are getting paid so well by MQ, have great supervisors, have lots of work, and just love DQS - that is great, it truly is. But, it's simply not that way for a lot of the rest of us. I appreciate being able to speak of my true experience here on this board. So, thanks for listening.
MQ pay cuts, more info
I just got a call from Corporate and I asked them specifically if they were going to cut the charges to the client the same amount of the pay cuts to the employees and she said Yes, they are............... I found that interesting  as long as it is indeed true.
She only cuts 3. By hand. That's all.
x
Short cuts
Ctrl U - underline
Ctrl A - blocks all
Ctrl S - saves
Ctrl X - deletes
Ctrl C- copies
Ctrl V - pastes
. . . and my favorite Ctrl Z - brings back something you accidental delete.
I hardly ever use my mouse as it breaks my rhythm and slows me down. If I think of anymore I will send them your way. Did you know that if you hold down your Ctrl key and use the arrows you can move around a document that way?
short-cuts
I've lost my short-cuts...could I have hit a key on my keyboard? Thanks!!
The position varies from place to place..
Sometimes you end up doing VR, which can be really easy or a real pain. Sometimes you end up simply editing files and all is good. Other times, you end up with more job responsibilities and hours than you ever wanted. All in all better than typing LOL.
ME versus MT, the pay cuts only apply to
those who do ASR (automated speech recognition), now being referred to by MQ at ME (Medical Editors). If you do not do ASR it would not apply, if you do you should receive a letter stating a 20% pay cut for same, or option to quit doing it at all and just do MT.
Inside gives a summary of cuts about to come
E-mail this page to a friend!
House Passes Budget Bill with Biggest Cuts in Medicaid, Medicare
Cuts $99.3 billion over 10 years - 27% from Medicaid, 23% from Medicare.
Feb. 1, 2006 – It's done. The House has passed and sent to President Bush the budget reconciliation bill that was strongly opposed by most senior citizen advocacy groups and newspaper editorials due to the deep cuts it makes in Medicaid and Medicare. It was a very close vote – 216 to 214. The bill cuts the budget by $38.8 billion over five years – 50 percent of the cuts are in Medicaid and Medicare.
Related Stories
Final House Vote on Budget Bill Could Cut Billions from Senior Programs
Passage expected Wednesday to cut Medicare, Medicaid
Jan. 30, 2006 – The Budget Reconciliation Bill, which many see as making drastic cuts in government programs for senior citizens – Medicaid and Medicare, is expected to hit the House floor on Wednesday for a final vote, the day after the President's State of the Union address. As reported today by the Capitol Hill Watch at KaiserNet.org, the bill will reduce federal spending by $99.3 billion over 10 years, with half of that coming from these senior programs. The Congressional Budget Office analysis says premiums for Medicaid beneficiaries in the bill could cause 110,000 to lose coverage by 2015. Read more...
Senate Budget Chair Calls for More Cuts in Medicare
Republicans to recycle old failed issues in 2006
Jan. 26, 2006 – The Republican chairman of the Senate Budget Committee is calling for more cuts in health care programs in fiscal 2007, which includes Medicare, according to The Daily Health Policy Report by KaiserNetwork.org, which cites CQ Today. The daily news summary says Republicans will also be targeting health care proposals this year, but most are proposals that have failed in the past. Read more...
• Homecare Industry Rallying Support to Kill Reconciliation Act
• Television Campaign to Stop Health Care Cuts for Seniors Launched by AFSCME
• Vote on Budget Set for Feb. 1; Senior Groups Seek to Sway GOP Moderates
The House first passed the bill on Dec. 19, 2005, by a vote of 212-206. It went to the Senate, where it passed by only one vote – 51-50. Due to procedural changes in the Senate, it had to go back to the House for this final vote. There was intensive lobbying by the senior citizen advocates and others since the Senate vote on Dec. 21, 2005, but they came only four votes closer.
The final vote was mostly along party lines, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats in opposition.
AARP CEO, Bill Novelli, quickly issued the following statement:
"Last night, in his State of the Union Address, the President said, "Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care. Our government has a responsibility to help provide health care for the poor and the elderly, and we are meeting that responsibility."
"Today the U.S. House of Representatives has turned a cold shoulder to that responsibility by further limiting eligibility for Medicaid, a program that serves the neediest -- the disabled, children, the poor and the elderly. It also approved a provision in its budget that will deny long-term care coverage to those who give money to charities, churches and family members in need.
"Working with our members, AARP will continue the fight to have this ill-conceived policy reversed."
The bill would save $99.3 billion over 10 years, with half of that coming from Medicaid and Medicare - 27% from Medicaid and 23% from Medicare.
There's also $1 billion in new spending to extend an income subsidy program for dairy farmers and a reprieve for physicians who had faced a 4 percent cut in Medicare fees, according to the Associated Press.
A major boost to opponents was an estimate issued by the Congressional Budget Office estimating that 45,000 Medicaid beneficiaries would lose their coverage in FY 2010 because of higher premiums in the bill. The CBO report also estimated 65,000 beneficiaries would lose coverage in FY 2015.
Children would account for 60% of the Medicaid beneficiaries who would lose coverage, according to the report.
The report also estimates that 13 million Medicaid beneficiaries would have new or higher copayments for services such as physician visits and hospital care. In addition, 13 million Medicaid beneficiaries would pay more for prescription drugs by 2010, and 20 million would pay more by 2015, the report states.
According to the report, "About 80% of the savings from higher cost-sharing would be due to decreased use of services." The report estimates that 1.3 million Medicaid beneficiaries would have to pay premiums and that 1.6 million would lose benefits, most likely for dental, vision and mental health services.
In addition, the report estimates that 15% of Medicaid long-term care beneficiaries would have their coverage delayed because of additional restrictions on asset transfers.
The asset transfer provisions in the bill would impose punitive new restrictions on the ability of the elderly to transfer assets before qualifying for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care. (Click here to read these provisions.)
That is true of ANY job. Cuts happen everywhere.
Companies do the same thing consumers do: Look for ways to get the most for less. It's actually a rather natural process.
Any job can change in its direction, its stability, etc., as our economic, technologic and global relationship status change constantly.
The only security anyone has is to be prepared with continuing education in more than 1 field, low debt load, high savings -- really living within your means, and keep good insurance.
JMO
We do use dx for diagnosis, and all the short cuts expanders
dd
Radiology MTs - Major cuts in outpatient
imaging by Congress - called the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Signed by Bush in December. Over five years will amount to 20 Billion dollars cut from outpatient imaging payments for Medicare and medicaid patients. This will have a ripple effect. Private insurers soon will follow suit. Posted the DRA but it was removed by Administrator.... This will have a detrimental effect on us all, as cuts will begin occurring in every aspect of radiology.
Here is a comprehensive article. Please do not remove this post for one day, Administrator. This will impact MTs in radiology significantly.
imagingBiz.com - The Information Service of the Imaging Center Institute
This way works, too, but using the ;yo or ;py cuts down on hitting the spacebar
nn
DQS short-cuts to Word 2003? HELP!
Does anyone know how to do this. I have been searching and searching for info and cannot find anything. Please help! Thanks. 
Acusis is giving workers 30% pay cuts?
XX
Love the serrated bread knife! Cuts everything!! nm
s
Please back you info up. Pay cuts have not been announced. Have you received a letter? nm.
nm.
Ummm--read her post again, please--it don't say *keyboard* short cuts..it says *word* shortcuts
duh!
Not sure, I have deductions for federal income tax, SS tax, Medicare tax, and state income tax. ???
nm
Depends on the file format of the Short Cuts file.
ShortHand comes with a utility file that can import various formats. You can get that file with the trial download of SH.
Depends on the file format of the Short Cuts file.
ShortHand comes with a utility file that can import various formats. You can get that file with the trial download of SH.
10% to 15% MTs are cutting pay cuts or thats how much they are cutting from everyone's pay?
Know any good companys that are hiring? LOL
You, well you have obviously put ME in my place
with that little lecture. Since youd didn't say anything meaningful to respond to in all that bandwidth, I won't respond to any of the content of what you said.
But just for your information, your little tyrade had no affect on the reality of what is going to happen, so get over it and get used to it.
I saw that place on TV (sm)
a lot of celebrities own there!
It is most definitely not OUR place to be
making phone calls or turning people in. The doctors and nurses are trained to do it as part of their job. If they suspect abuse, drug seeking, whatever, it is up to THEM, not us.
know your place sm
Student Rule #1: Keep your thoughts to yourself when ti comes to CEOs and your opinions. "I read a post by the CEO and felt the need to comment."
I see this is not the place to be
People are right when I have been told - not many nice people in this field. My first week coming on here to look for help and talk to other was this past week and you know what, you can have it. I will look for other places to figure out my problems with work and I suggest you look for help with your personality problems as my work problems do not require nearly the attention your personality does. Good bye and thanks for nothing.
I am not sure if you tried this place..
Did you happen to go into your closet and look for a reference book only to find the administrator of this forum smelling her finger?
I have never been to a place that does that and
would not shop at one.
|
