Federal regulators are proposing to revamp the system used to reimburse physicians for treating Medicare patients, but the American Medical Association and American Hospital Association are of different minds whether the changes are for the better.

At issue is a new federal rule seeking to reward doctors and other clinicians for the quality of care they deliver rather than the quantity, according to Kaiser Health News. Physicians will now be allowed to choose from a menu of payment options tailored to the care they provide, which would replace Medicare's fee-for-service program. http://bit.ly/23dqYlz

Physicians lobbied for the changes. Calling the proposal "the most sweeping change in physician payment policy in the last 25 years," AMA's elected president, Steven Stack, urged members to keep pressing regulators to enact the changes.

"The risk is that government policymakers may cling to narrow-minded regulatory approaches that are driving the alarming rate of physician burnout," he said. "We remain actively engaged in the policymaking process now underway in the hope that we will be better positioned to lower the risk of more excessive regulatory burdens and seize other opportunities to support professional satisfaction and sustainable physician practices." http://bit.ly/1rF3RFb

Hospitals, however, were less enthused about the change. AHA Executive Vice President Tom Nickels said his group was disappointed in the narrow definition of alternative payments models federal regulators are using. The proposed rules "could have a chilling effect on providers' ability to experiment with new patient-centered, value-driven payment models," he added.

"Today's rule fails to recognize the significant resources and risk assumed by the highly motivated, early adopters of alternative payment models," he said. http://bit.ly/24pjFd2

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