Daily Kos: Kentucky Doctor Reason for Closing — Because of Bush Initiative, NOT Obamacare. the Real Story
Yesterday the right wing social media was buzzing about the story of the Kentucky doctor who put an ad in his local paper declaring that due to Obamacare, he was closing his office. I claimed that nothing in the ACA could in any way force a doctor to close his office, or create so much regulation that it would be too expensive to continue.
As the story unfolded, the Obamacare regulation that was forcing the doctor into retirement was the mandate that all health records must be electronic by the year 2014. The doctor, Steven Kiteck, cited the fact the his office was “computer illiterate,” and could not make the transition to electronic records.
Well, it turns out I was right, and almost everyone in media, including the progressive media, got it wrong.
Let’s start with the Electronic Health Records (EHR) “mandate.” Well, in the first place, there is no “mandate.” There are strong incentives, and Medicare reimbursement penalties, however no doctor is being forced to go electronic. So what are the Medicare penalties? For doctor who wishes not to file Medicare claims using EHR, the reimbursement falls 1% for each of the next five years.