PHYSICIAN-PAYMENT REFORM - UNFINISHED BUSINESS

WITH the final implementation of the Medicare fee schedule in January of this year, the renegotiation of a political bargain first struck more than 25 years ago was successfully concluded. To secure a reluctant profession's cooperation with Medicare, Congress promised in 1965 that it would refrain from exercising “any supervision or control over the practice of medicine or the manner in which medical services are provided, or over the selection, tenure or compensation of any officer or employee of any institution, agency or person providing health services.”1 During the past decade, this laissez-faire posture proved economically untenable. It was abandoned. © 1992, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.