Home Forums Discussions Meaningful Use Successful Attestation of Stage 1 MU, year 3

I spent a couple hours at the office today attesting to MU 2013. Success !
It's my third and final year of playing the MU game. Received the 2011 $18K, received the 2012 $12K, and expect to the receive the 2013 $8 without glitch (but our dis-enrollment from Medicare could mess it up, although it's not supposed to.....not holding my breath).

Effective today Jan 1, 2014 we are withdrawn from Medicare.....that planning process started in May 2013 with feasibility studies, followed by notification to our patients in June 2013 of the intent to drop-out, then we fielded questions by our distraught patients for several months (but due to a well-written letter of notice and FAQ's) they kept the questions to a minimum since they all understood the deal. November 10th we sent our notice to CMS (at least 30 days but not more than 60 days prior to the Quarter you intend to dis-enroll). We received confirmation of receipt a few weeks later.
Today is DAY #1 of the rest of my life without the encumbrances of Medicare.

We maintain PECOS enrollment so we can order durable medical equipment for the Medicare patients that remain as self-pay.

I look forward to seeing patients tomorrow without having to CLICK all those blue boxes in AC.....I hope I can break the habit though. 2-1/2 years of clicking boxes....geeze. I feel like one of those lab rats pressing the button for a food pellet or something.
Adam

Congratulations! Good luck!

Adam,

So you have completely opted out of Medicare, and are doing private contracting?

I think there are many who are considering this approach. So, a few questions. Are you doing a concierge model with up front payment, or a pay as you go fee for service model? What percentage of your Medicare patients left with the change? Any further information on how you did your feasibility study or approach to this change would be of interest.

I absolutely agree that this is becoming a serious consideration for many practices.

The presentation subjects are still in-flux, but for the San Diego Thaw we have confirmed that we will have one practice that has completely exited Medicare, and they are far enough down-range from the change to talk about the business and clinical impacts.

There is another practice that will be talking about their model which is a *NO* payer model where patients pay monthly and receive regular care focused on preventative care. With folks facing 5k-10K deductibles, I expect that patients that are actually engaged in their own health will accelerate the growth of these models. The practice is growing and opened their second location last year. The principals believe in practicing medicine in this fashion, and are willing to be transparent with other Physicians about the clinical and business aspects of their practice model.

I have reached out to concierge model Physicians that I know as well, and hopefully one of those will be willing to talk about their experiences.