Repercussions are already starting to resonate from the failure of the deficit supercommittee to reach a consensus on cost cutting measures, and healthcare will be one of those areas facing a significant impact.  Despite efforts to protect the Medicare population, they will still be faced with a 2% reduction, and this could well be above the already 27% provider reimbursement cuts scheduled for January 1st.  The AMA was already concerned about the impact on patient access to care based upon the scheduled  2012 cut and the additional reductions may force physicians to limit the number of Medicare patients they can care for in their practice.

In addition, an even greater impact is expected  in programs that depend upon "discretionary" annual appropriations could be significant.  Provisions were made that if the supercommittee was unable to reach a timely decision, then automatic cuts would go into effect and funding for non-defense discretionary programs in 2013 could face reductions of 7.8%, dropping each year to 5.5% in 2012.  Health advocates feel that the greatest cuts will be seen in medical research and development, public health, HIV/AIDS and disease prevention.

Is your product ready to face the realities of an increasingly restrictive reimbursement structure?  Contact SMT to see if we can help you prepare a strategy and value message which speaks to these increasing pressures and puts your product a step ahead of the competition.