TARDY MEDICARE REIMBURSEMENTS ARE HURTING DOCTORS IN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA AND HAWAII

Los Angeles Times -

Nov. 8: Doctors across California and in two other Western states are owed millions of dollars in backlogged Medicare reimbursements, leading some physicians to turn away elderly patients and pushing others to the brink of bankruptcy.

In the most extreme cases, doctors have not been paid since February. Others are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Doctors who serve high numbers of Medicare patients say they are defaulting on rent, laying off staff and begging drug suppliers not to stop shipments. One cardiologist said she's even resorted to doing the office laundry to cut costs.

Medicare owes Dr. Tim Ganey and his Bay Area practice of oncologists $750,000 in outstanding claims. He sought grace periods from vendors for his drug payments, but now he's running out of time. He won't be able to order more chemotherapy treatments unless he pays his bill.

The holdup is twofold. By May, doctors were supposed to be using a new universal identification number assigned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Without the new number, which is like a Social Security number, doctors can't get reimbursed.

Then, as scores of doctors still waited for those numbers, in September the federal agency switched to a new claim processor for its 90,000 California providers. The move to Palmetto GBA in South Carolina, part of a national effort to reform Medicare contractors, compounded the billing issues and left even doctors who had their universal identification numbers waiting months for reimbursement.

"This is just a complete disaster," said Dr. Dev Gnanadev, medical director and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton and president of the California Medical Assn. "I know people who have turned down their office to minimal size. Some are even considering closing temporarily. If you don't get paid, then you're in deep trouble."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), whose office was contacted by at least two dozen doctors, called the transition to the new contractor "marred by missteps."

"I have been hearing from numerous doctors who have been waiting for months for hundreds of thousands of dollars in reimbursements," he said in a statement. "The delay in payments threatens to compromise patient care and provider solvency."

Palmetto has also been the subject of complaints from doctors in Nevada, which switched to the processing firm in August. The state has the fastest-growing Medicare population in the nation.

"If we're still dealing with this in January or February, Medicare patients are going to have serious access problems," said Larry Mathies, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Assn.

So far, Medicare patients have been largely insulated from the reimbursement fight, though they may have difficulty making new appointments. Some doctors, particularly those with specialties that get minimal Medicare reimbursements, say this could be the tipping point that makes them abandon their participation in Medicare altogether.

"There are patients waiting to be seen, and I can't see them," Wong said. "Without completing my enrollments, I can't take Medicare patients."

Mike Barlow, a Palmetto vice president who oversees California, Nevada and Hawaii, said company officials are aware of the issues and have acted to address them. The company has hired and trained more people to field calls. Teams are in place to fast-track the most severe cases. This week, some Palmetto staffers were on site in Reno and Las Vegas trying to process complaints in person.

"We are accelerating to the extent that is humanly possible," Barlow said. Palmetto has taken the brunt of the doctors' ire. The cover of Southern California Physician magazine that hit mailboxes this week features a huge picture of a cockroach, also called a Palmetto bug, with the word "INFESTATION!" stripped across the front. The article opens with one doctor telling Barlow, "I wish I had a tomato," as he stood before an angry crowd at a California Medical Assn. meeting last month.

Critics of the switch say the federal Medicare agency is also to blame for undertaking two major transitions within months of each other. In an effort to cut costs, the agency picked a contractor that was not equipped or prepared to handle California's Medicare providers, they contend.

But federal officials defend the choice. Torris Smith, an associate regional administrator for the agency, said Palmetto has more than 40 years of experience as a Medicare contractor and was selected after a "full and open competition."