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WASHINGTON (AP) - Final federal rules issued Wednesday will cut Medicare's reimbursement rates for doctors next year by 4.4 percent while increasing payments for most hospitals by at least 3.7 percent.
Doctors have said that such a cut in their reimbursement rates would prompt many to stop seeing Medicare patients. Congress has indicated a willingness to address their concerns; the Senate Finance Committee last week approved a bill that would give physicians a 1 percent increase in their rates next year.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say they lack the power to change that formula that sets the reimbursement rate.
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