This is an excerpt from a member-only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe.

Within the next six years, physicians' costs will increase approximately 15% while Medicare plans to cut doctors' payments by nearly 26%, according to figures released by the American Medical Association (AMA). Medicare calls for a 4.3% reduction in physician payments beginning January 1, 2006, as well as progressive cuts through 2011 that will reportedly decrease physician payment rates by 26% overall.