Duke physician group says it won't treat veterans
2/24/2005 9:49 AM
By: Associated Press

(DURHAM) - A group of physicians at Duke University are threatening to stop treating military veterans referred by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center because the VA won't pay enough.

Executives of Duke's Private Diagnostic Clinic physicians' group voted to stop treating the veterans last month because the VA system wouldn't agree to pay them more than 100 percent of current Medicare reimbursement rates.

PDC Executive Director Paul Newman wrote in a memo that the group wouldn't treat VA patients. The memo says the new rule was to take effect January 15th, but it hasn't yet.

Durham VA Hospital spokesman Hal Hummell says the agency is negotiating with Duke about the reimbursement rate for patients
referred to PDC when the VA physicians can't provide needed care.

Hummell says he knows of no other situations across the country in which VA hospitals paid physicians more than the going Medicare rate.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=64433&SecID=2

Private Diagnostic Clinic

Administration
Box 3810 Med. Ctr. , Durham, NC 27708
Paul Newman, Executive Director
1-919-613-7652

Timothy Daye, Director of Reimbursement
1-919-668-5163

Fax: 1-919-681-8704

http://www.duke.edu/

President Richard H. Brodhead
Duke University
207 Allen Building
Box 90001
Durham, NC 27708-0001
Telephone: (919) 684-2424
Fax: (919) 684-3050
president@duke.edu

president@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov

http://www.house.gov
http://www.senate.gov