American writer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) said, “A physician is one upon whom we set our hopes when ill and upon whom we set our dogs when well.” Taking liberty with a Sherlock Holmes’ phrase, I must surmise, “The dogs are afoot!”

News released at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in Chicago this week reports physicians are losing $15 billion a year due to inaccurate handling of insurance claims. And the federal government’s 21.3 percent cut on physician reimbursements for Medicare patients that went into effect on June 1 is still pending, which is holding up Medicare claims processing while Congress decides whether or not to approve, alter or delay the cut again. And these are just some of the issues in the current healthcare debacle.

Physicians do not comprise the majority of my readers, but I dare say that every reader has visited or will visit a physician. And everything that is occurring in healthcare affects all of us. According to a Chicago Tribune article, the AMA report not only spotlights physicians’ lost money but also emphasizes, “Improving claims processing could save patients money and improve medical care service.”

According to journalistic wire reports, if you or a family member is a Medicare patient, you may have to find another physician. For example, Dr. Gregory Thomas, cardiologist at Mission Internal Medical Group in Mission Viejo, Calif., said his practice has enough cash flow to handle a month’s delay in billing. But if the cut goes through, the practice may have to withdraw from Medicare and become a concierge service, charging patients a retainer for access to physician care.

Larry Epstein, manager of Pulmonary and Allergy Associates in Summit, N.J., said the practice would lose as much as $1 million a year if the cut goes into effect. Medicare comprises about 40 percent of the practice’s $14 million in revenue. He said, “There’s no way in a pulmonary practice that we could cut Medicare patients.”

Dr. Jen Brull, family physician in Plainville, Kan., said when the government withheld payments briefly in April, the last time Congress delayed a fee fix, she saw a $10,000 drop in revenue. If the cut actually went into effect, she would have to work harder and longer but couldn’t drop out of Medicare, which accounts for 22 percent of her patients and 35-40 percent of her income.

Dr. Jason Marker, family physician in Wyatt, Ind., said dropping Medicare patients is not an option, but the pending cuts make him nervous about paying back a loan for remodeling his office and for his plans to take on a partner. A Sevier County physician told me that with staff and other overhead expenses, he had to see 36 patients a day to break even. He also said that as far as he knew no family practitioner in the county was accepting new Medicare patients.

My interest in healthcare has peaked primarily because my son Carl II is co-founder/CEO of ClaimCare, Inc., a large medical billing company. I have led in several seminars for ClaimCare’s staff of approximately 75, and am aware of rumblings in healthcare. It has been my goal to help ClaimCare help physicians. A couple of blogs this week on www.ClaimCare.net deal with the Medicare reimbursement dilemma and with what Carl II titled: July 6 PECOS catastrophe fast approaching.

As I mentioned in two previous columns, June is Effective Communication Month. This will be a good time to communicate “thanks” to your physician, communicate “do the right” thing to government officials – and communicate to yourself and your family, “stay healthy!”

© 2010 by Carl Mays, speaker at over 3,500 events and author of over a dozen books. The mentoring site for students and adults, www.MyMerlin.net, is based on his book and program, “A Strategy for Winning.” Contact: carlmays@carlmays.com, 865-436-7478, www.carlmays.com.