I know that healthcare reform is “top dog” right now, but I am very concerned that the under-the-radar Medicare regulations being proposed will take effect January 1 and people will wake up to discover their access to cardiac care has been severely affected without a single piece of legislation ever being enacted.

It’s easy to lump the two-legislation and regulations-together but the reality is that the proposed Medicare rules will limit cardiologists’ ability to provide care, especially in rural areas. Folks in the “big city” don’t realize how far patients have to travel to access their cardiologist or obtain a test to diagnose their heart disease. Doctors who open clinics in rural areas a couple days a week so patients don’t have to drive 70-100 miles for care do so because it’s the RIGHT THING TO DO, not because they make a lot of money from it.

But if the Medicare cuts go through, physicians will be forced to reduce those rural services because there’s just no way they can make it work financially. They will have to make tough choices: lay off staff, or close the twice-a-week office in a rural county? Let the lease expire on that expensive mobile echo machine used in rural offices, or not hire an additional physician to meet the needs of the increasing cardiac needs of the baby boomer generation?

Given that heart disease is America’s Number One killer, we need to focus on making sure patients have access to the care they need when they need it. When you have a heart problem, it needs to be addressed IMMEDIATELY or patients could die. And rural residents deserve that access to cardiac care-they are the farmers, the miners, the small business owners that help keep this country running.

Eddie Barber

Tupelo Mississippi