Congresswoman Carson Visits Family Practice Center

IU-Methodist Family Practice Center participated in a national campaign on behalf of medical group practices to host congressional representatives to help show the impact of the Medicare's declining reimbursements and other federal initiatives. Congresswoman Julia Carson spent about an hour at the group practice, touring the facility, meeting with IU School of Medicine’s Family Medicine faculty Douglas McKeag, MD, Chair; Gaylen Kelton, MD, Medical Director; Peter Nalin, MD, Residency Director; Philip Ferguson, MD, Kevin Gebke, MD, and Rock Tiffault, MD, and administrators Sunday Spong, Director of Finance and Kathrine McEwen, Practice Administrator.

The Medical Group Management Association, (MGMA) a national professional association that represents those who manage and lead medical group practices, coordinated this nationwide campaign. MGMA matched every member of congress with a MGMA practice in their district or state to invite them to the practice for a site visit.

"This is the best way we can illustrate the effects that further Medicare cuts will have on physician practices. They hit primary care physicians particularly hard," said Dr. McKeag, Chair of the Department of Family Medicine. “Congresswoman Carson expressed great concern about access to the best healthcare available for Medicare patients.”

In the past two years, the cost of professional liability insurance has more than doubled for family medicine physicians, the cost of providing benefits for our employees has increased significantly, and we have to use more financial resources to keep up with information technology changes. All the while, reimbursement from Medicare remains stagnant and commercial payers follow suit.

"MGMA has consistently been on the frontlines of the federal legislative battle to help combat year-over-year decreases in physician payments," said William F. Jessee, MD, FACMPE, MGMA president and CEO. "We feel this grassroots approach will help solidify the affect declining Medicare reimbursements can have on practices and the patients and communities they serve. We applaud these representatives for taking time out of their schedules to visit these practices and experience these challenges first hand."

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