A group of South Miami cardiologists has written a letter to patients complaining that huge cuts in Medicare rates may force many heart specialists out of business or mean reduced services for their patients. The doctors from South Miami Cardiology said that on Jan. 1 Medicare reduced "reimbursement for cardiac services on average by 40%. This is unrelated to the current healthcare reform, which is planning an additional 21% reduction, effective March 1." But Lori Heim, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, told the Miami Herald that she finds it "disingenuous" that the cardiologists' letter blames reform proposals for their rate cuts.
