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Dr. Hummer: 'There's A Flaw In Medicare Funding And Reimbursement'

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A push among some to repeal Obamacare is not the only repealing that is being urged in the healthcare industry.

Charles "Chip" Hummer III, M.D. told WPHT morning host Chris Stigall that the Medicare system is flawed and needs to be strengthened.

"There's a flaw in how Medicare is funded and how reimbursement occurs. And it's been patched over the last 15 years on a reoccurring basis. The problem is those patches have cost more than a fix would cost then and more than fix would cost now. A fix would cost $140 billion the patches have cost $170 Billion."

Hummer urged Chris and his listeners to contact their respective congressmen and compel them to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate(SGR), which is the funding mechanism for Medicare reimbursement to physicians, and ICD-10 which the World Health Organization(WHO) defines as "the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases " and he referred to as a "burdensome costly documentation scheme."

"If (ICD-10) is implemented, the doctor will spend that much more time looking a computer screen and that much less time looking at you or your loved one hearing about your problems and your concerns. Advocating to your member of Congress for those two simple issues would go a long way to strengthening our healthcare system. "

He fears that the administrative pressures placed by ICD-10 and the costs that SGR cause, doctors might end up having to either become a cash business only or leave the profession all together.

"All doctors took a Hippocratic Oath, and I think that we would all fight to care for our patients above else, but everybody's in business and everybody has to survive. "

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