KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Planned cuts to Medicare could hit not only patient care but the quality of education for medical students, a KU Med official said Wednesday.
Irene Cumming, the hospital’s president and CEO, said academic medical institutions would take a double whammy if proposed cuts took effect Oct. 1. In addition to cuts scheduled for all health-care providers, funds designed to supplement costs of teaching hospitals also will be slashed.
“If our School of Medicine is to provide physicians ready to practice tomorrow’s medicine, we need to provide them with the training ground,” Cumming said. “If the added cost of this role is not reflected in Medicare, Medicaid or managed care, it will limit the vital role academic medical centers play in the health care of our nation.”
Cumming spoke at a forum organized by U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., at the Med Center. Officials from a variety of Kansas City-area health-care providers bemoaned the Medicare cuts, which they say will force some physicians to stop treating Medicare patients.
The cuts, a result of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, will reduce physician reimbursements under Medicare by 5.4 percent starting Oct. 1. In Kansas, that amounts to $21 million or an average of $4,207 per physician.
KU Med’s share is about $1.2 million next year, Cumming said.
But the Med Center also will be hit with a 15 percent or $1.1 million reduction under a program that provides funds to teaching hospitals.
The program helps reimburse academic hospitals for the cost of training interns and residents. Cumming said academic hospitals were expected to have more specialized services, such as burn units and treatment sites for chemical and biological emergencies.
“At a time when these services may unfortunately be most needed by Americans, and when hospitals are being urged by our government to increase their readiness in the event of another terrorist or biological attack, another branch of government proposes to cut the source of funding that makes those specialized services possible,” she said.
Elderly patients also may have a more difficult time finding a doctor. Sam Turner, CEO of Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, said that with lower reimbursement rates, fewer physicians will accept Medicare patients. That means hospital emergency rooms, which are required to treat patients, will be busier.
“More and more elderly people are coming to our emergency room with primary care-type maladies. That’s causing emergency rooms to burst at the seams,” he said.
Linda Lubensky, executive director of the Kansas Home Care Assn., said the cuts would especially hurt health care in already-underserved rural Kansas.
“This is absurd,” she said. “We’re people who have dedicated our lives to help other people, and we have to come to beg to pay the people we have to provide these duties.”
Simon Scholtz, chief financial officer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said after the forum that LMH could see $1 million in cuts next year under the plan. But he said he remained hopeful patients wouldn’t be able to notice an immediate difference in care.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Planned cuts to Medicare could hit not only patient care but the quality of education for medical students, a KU Med official said Wednesday.
Irene Cumming, the hospital’s president and CEO, said academic medical institutions would take a double whammy if proposed cuts took effect Oct. 1. In addition to cuts scheduled for all health-care providers, funds designed to supplement costs of teaching hospitals also will be slashed.
“If our School of Medicine is to provide physicians ready to practice tomorrow’s medicine, we need to provide them with the training ground,” Cumming said. “If the added cost of this role is not reflected in Medicare, Medicaid or managed care, it will limit the vital role academic medical centers play in the health care of our nation.”
Cumming spoke at a forum organized by U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., at the Med Center. Officials from a variety of Kansas City-area health-care providers bemoaned the Medicare cuts, which they say will force some physicians to stop treating Medicare patients.
The cuts, a result of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, will reduce physician reimbursements under Medicare by 5.4 percent starting Oct. 1. In Kansas, that amounts to $21 million or an average of $4,207 per physician.
KU Med’s share is about $1.2 million next year, Cumming said.
But the Med Center also will be hit with a 15 percent or $1.1 million reduction under a program that provides funds to teaching hospitals.
The program helps reimburse academic hospitals for the cost of training interns and residents. Cumming said academic hospitals were expected to have more specialized services, such as burn units and treatment sites for chemical and biological emergencies.
“At a time when these services may unfortunately be most needed by Americans, and when hospitals are being urged by our government to increase their readiness in the event of another terrorist or biological attack, another branch of government proposes to cut the source of funding that makes those specialized services possible,” she said.
Elderly patients also may have a more difficult time finding a doctor. Sam Turner, CEO of Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, said that with lower reimbursement rates, fewer physicians will accept Medicare patients. That means hospital emergency rooms, which are required to treat patients, will be busier.
“More and more elderly people are coming to our emergency room with primary care-type maladies. That’s causing emergency rooms to burst at the seams,” he said.
Linda Lubensky, executive director of the Kansas Home Care Assn., said the cuts would especially hurt health care in already-underserved rural Kansas.
“This is absurd,” she said. “We’re people who have dedicated our lives to help other people, and we have to come to beg to pay the people we have to provide these duties.”
Simon Scholtz, chief financial officer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said after the forum that LMH could see $1 million in cuts next year under the plan. But he said he remained hopeful patients wouldn’t be able to notice an immediate difference in care.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Planned cuts to Medicare could hit not only patient care but the quality of education for medical students, a KU Med official said Wednesday.
Irene Cumming, the hospital’s president and CEO, said academic medical institutions would take a double whammy if proposed cuts took effect Oct. 1. In addition to cuts scheduled for all health-care providers, funds designed to supplement costs of teaching hospitals also will be slashed.
“If our School of Medicine is to provide physicians ready to practice tomorrow’s medicine, we need to provide them with the training ground,” Cumming said. “If the added cost of this role is not reflected in Medicare, Medicaid or managed care, it will limit the vital role academic medical centers play in the health care of our nation.”
Cumming spoke at a forum organized by U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., at the Med Center. Officials from a variety of Kansas City-area health-care providers bemoaned the Medicare cuts, which they say will force some physicians to stop treating Medicare patients.
The cuts, a result of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, will reduce physician reimbursements under Medicare by 5.4 percent starting Oct. 1. In Kansas, that amounts to $21 million or an average of $4,207 per physician.
KU Med’s share is about $1.2 million next year, Cumming said.
But the Med Center also will be hit with a 15 percent or $1.1 million reduction under a program that provides funds to teaching hospitals.
The program helps reimburse academic hospitals for the cost of training interns and residents. Cumming said academic hospitals were expected to have more specialized services, such as burn units and treatment sites for chemical and biological emergencies.
“At a time when these services may unfortunately be most needed by Americans, and when hospitals are being urged by our government to increase their readiness in the event of another terrorist or biological attack, another branch of government proposes to cut the source of funding that makes those specialized services possible,” she said.
Elderly patients also may have a more difficult time finding a doctor. Sam Turner, CEO of Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, said that with lower reimbursement rates, fewer physicians will accept Medicare patients. That means hospital emergency rooms, which are required to treat patients, will be busier.
“More and more elderly people are coming to our emergency room with primary care-type maladies. That’s causing emergency rooms to burst at the seams,” he said.
Linda Lubensky, executive director of the Kansas Home Care Assn., said the cuts would especially hurt health care in already-underserved rural Kansas.
“This is absurd,” she said. “We’re people who have dedicated our lives to help other people, and we have to come to beg to pay the people we have to provide these duties.”
Simon Scholtz, chief financial officer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said after the forum that LMH could see $1 million in cuts next year under the plan. But he said he remained hopeful patients wouldn’t be able to notice an immediate difference in care.
KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Planned cuts to Medicare could hit not only patient care but the quality of education for medical students, a KU Med official said Wednesday.
Irene Cumming, the hospital’s president and CEO, said academic medical institutions would take a double whammy if proposed cuts took effect Oct. 1. In addition to cuts scheduled for all health-care providers, funds designed to supplement costs of teaching hospitals also will be slashed.
“If our School of Medicine is to provide physicians ready to practice tomorrow’s medicine, we need to provide them with the training ground,” Cumming said. “If the added cost of this role is not reflected in Medicare, Medicaid or managed care, it will limit the vital role academic medical centers play in the health care of our nation.”
Cumming spoke at a forum organized by U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., at the Med Center. Officials from a variety of Kansas City-area health-care providers bemoaned the Medicare cuts, which they say will force some physicians to stop treating Medicare patients.
The cuts, a result of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, will reduce physician reimbursements under Medicare by 5.4 percent starting Oct. 1. In Kansas, that amounts to $21 million or an average of $4,207 per physician.
KU Med’s share is about $1.2 million next year, Cumming said.
But the Med Center also will be hit with a 15 percent or $1.1 million reduction under a program that provides funds to teaching hospitals.
The program helps reimburse academic hospitals for the cost of training interns and residents. Cumming said academic hospitals were expected to have more specialized services, such as burn units and treatment sites for chemical and biological emergencies.
“At a time when these services may unfortunately be most needed by Americans, and when hospitals are being urged by our government to increase their readiness in the event of another terrorist or biological attack, another branch of government proposes to cut the source of funding that makes those specialized services possible,” she said.
Elderly patients also may have a more difficult time finding a doctor. Sam Turner, CEO of Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Merriam, said that with lower reimbursement rates, fewer physicians will accept Medicare patients. That means hospital emergency rooms, which are required to treat patients, will be busier.
“More and more elderly people are coming to our emergency room with primary care-type maladies. That’s causing emergency rooms to burst at the seams,” he said.
Linda Lubensky, executive director of the Kansas Home Care Assn., said the cuts would especially hurt health care in already-underserved rural Kansas.
“This is absurd,” she said. “We’re people who have dedicated our lives to help other people, and we have to come to beg to pay the people we have to provide these duties.”
Simon Scholtz, chief financial officer at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said after the forum that LMH could see $1 million in cuts next year under the plan. But he said he remained hopeful patients wouldn’t be able to notice an immediate difference in care.
