Medicare may get fix due to budget

The president's fiscal year 2012 budget proposal sets the stage for stabilizing the Medicare physician payment system and building up the primary care physician workforce, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

President Obama's proposed budget includes a 2-year, paid-for moratorium on the mandatory Medicare pay cuts under the sustainable growth rate formula, according to a statement from AAFP President Roland Goertz, MD, MBA.

The budget, if enacted, would provide respite from the monthly and sometimes bimonthly threats to the financial stability of family physician practices, he says.