HOW THE PLAN WORKS WITH MEDICARE:

Patients with Medicare are welcome to join the practice, but effective August 1st, 2008, Dr. Lewis is no longer contracted with Medicare. Any services provided by Dr. Lewis are not covered by Medicare due to federal regulations. Services ordered by me, such as your prescriptions, oxygen therapy, physical therapy, home health care and the like, will continue to be covered by Medicare, as long as you are not enrolled in a Medicare HMO plan. You must find out the rules of your particular agreement.

As long as your Medicare service provider is not an HMO, services provided by other facilities and physicians who are contracted with Medicare will continue to be covered by Medicare, even if you are a member of my practice.

Below is a graph contrasting the rising costs of a medical practice and the payment cuts to doctors by Medicare.

Sources: Physician cost data is from the MEI, a conservative index of practice cost growth maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare physician payment updates are from the 2007 Medicare Trustees report with 2008 adjustments to reflect Sec. 101 of P.L. 110-173.

This graph is made based on real data provided by the government office that runs Medicare, called CMS. No business can sustain a model of payment with graphs like this. Though Congress could fix this problem at any time, they have chosen not to and continue to offer band aid solutions to a gapping wound. To see the light at the end of the tunnel, click here.