ACIP : Give Flu Shot to Kids Up to 5 Years

T committee advising Congress on Medicare payments has called for reimbursement increases for physicians and hospitals next year, but is proposing to slow the growth rate for hospital payments. In its March report, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) called for a 2.8% increase in payments to doctors, instead of the 4.6% cut required by law next year. Doctors narrowly dodged a similar cut in January when Congress repealed it in the budget bill. Congress approved $6.4 billion in cuts to Medicare over 5 years in February. The White House budget called for $36 billion more in cuts by 2011. The American Medical Association praised MedPAC’s call for higher physician payments. “If enacted by Congress, this new MedPAC recommendation will help physicians continue to treat Medicare patients,” AMA board member Dr. Duane Cady said in a statement. But the group is likely to be less impressed by a renewed MedPAC recommendation that calls for a new committee to advise Medicare on the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) that sets reimbursement for medical services. An AMA panel, called the RVS update committee (RUC), currently makes recommendations on payment updates for hundreds of treatment and diagnostic codes. But MedPAC chair Glenn Hackbarth told