Doctors face payment cuts for patients on Medicare

Doctors face a 10% cut in Medicare payments beginning July 1 after the Senate failed to take up legislation that would have averted the cuts. Republican senators blocked efforts by Democrats to call up the bill, which was approved in the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, president of the American Medical Association, said the cuts would force many doctors to "limit the number of new Medicare patients they treat."