One of my primary goals is to maintain and develop high quality doctor-patient relationships in my practice.  I enjoy spending time with my patients, listening to the issues that are important to them and developing a customized comprehensive treatment strategy.  To reach this goal, I have chosen to eliminate the middlemen (primarily Medicare/Medicaid and insurance companies) that were draining increasing amounts of my time and energy and hampering the way I practice medicine.

My choice to opt-out of Medicare was not a simple decision, since over one third of my patients at that time were of Medicare age.  I wrestled with this, both professionally and personally, and finally concluded that this decision would allow me to better serve all my patients.

Opting out does not imply that Medicare patients cannot see me as their doctor.  It simply means neither you nor my office can submit a Medicare claim for your office visit.  You pay for the visit yourself.  By law, Medicare patients must sign a contract with me prior to your next office visit stating that you will not submit a claim to Medicare. This contract is available from my office or can be downloaded here.

My decision to opt-out of Medicare affects only our relationship.  Hospital services, hospitalists, and doctors you see for other needs will not be affected.  You can still use Medicare to pay for lab work, X-rays, MRIs, physical therapy, and services provided by the hospital and other physicians who accept Medicare.  Medicare will normally pay for tests that I order, and Part A coverage is not affected.  Some secondary insurance plans may reimburse you for my services as well.

Why did I decide to opt out of the Medicare program after treating Medicare patients for over ten years?

Medicare/Medicaid and insurance companies were increasingly affecting the way I practiced medicine.  Since the government regulates healthcare through rules that these intermediaries must follow, ultimately it is the government who determines whom a patient may see, what services are deemed necessary, who may receive these services, and how much a doctor may charge.  For years I felt that complying with these often arbitrary rules and regulations interfered with my ability to offer quality, customized patient care.  I believe opting out of Medicare has allowed me to practice medicine in YOUR best interest.

Each year Medicare plans more cuts to physician reimbursement, totaling 34% by 2015.  At the time I opted out, Medicare already required that I discount my fees by one third to one half of what I charged other patients.  It was illegal for me to bill a patient or their secondary insurance for the remainder.  As many people don’t understand what this means, allow me to explain:

I could have made up the difference by charging my non-Medicare patients more, but this did not seem fair to my patients or me.  Seeing more patients while spending less time with them was not appealing either.  I did not wish to continue supporting a system that places an unfair financial burden on some patients and inadequately compensates physicians for the work they do.