David L. Keller, MD

Doctors risk being blamed for the unknown percentage of patients at risk of addiction and overdose, regardless of what we do, regardless of how prevalent abuse may be in a community.

Physicians and their pain patients will continue to suffer such inconveniences, insults and financial burdens, until the epidemic of opioid overdoses ends.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) is not going to hold down the increasing cost of Medicare by adding over 1,600 pages of new regulations to the program. Instead, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should have reduced the cost of traditional Medicare by eliminating the requirement for detailed documentation of evaluation and management (E/M) charges.