New government regulations via Obamacare are making independent physicians adjust their patient volume by not taking Medicare patients according to a new study.This disturbing stat along with numerous others in the state of health for physicians were covered by HealthLeadersMedia.com:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is in the midst of reaching out to small practices get up to speed with MACRA, which will begin to affect Medicare payments in January 2017.  

Despite this, the BlackBook survey, conducted in May, found that 89% of solo practices plan to minimize Medicare volume to avoid filing quality and clinical practice improvement reports or cost performance reports to CMS.

More than three out of four (77%) of physician practices are struggling financially, the BlackBook survey found.

“Physician payment based on 2017 performance isn’t scheduled to kick in until 2019,” said BlackBook managing partner Doug Brown in a media statement.

“That’s far too long to maintain operations for the most-stressed practices to hold on with outmoded technology and scarce billing support.”

Before 2019, 78% of independent primary care physicians surveyed expect to join a bigger group or integrated delivery network (IDN) to access reporting and revenue cycle tools and support, BlackBook found.

Of practices with 10 or fewer practitioners, 63% remain unsure which health information technology and products meet their needs for meaningful use, clinician usability, interoperability and coordinated claims and billing, the survey found.

Full article can be read here