For decades, and long before the passage of the controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), there has been debate over the Medicare physician payment system. Over the years, Congress has sought different ways to remunerate physicians for caring for Medicare patients in ways fair and equitable to the physician and within budgetary allowances. The caveat to payment realignment is not reducing payment to the point physicians cease accepting assignment, or worse yet, they refuse to see Medicare patients. The ACA has inextricably changed how reimbursement is paid, but has also focused on value and improved quality of care as a measure of payment. The following discussion is a brief overview of the pros and cons of the Pay for …show more content…
Despite the current vernacular of pay-for-performance and value-based purchasing in health care, quality care, and positive patient outcomes cannot be sacrificed to sooth