Quotes of note

Healthcare Financial Management, Dec, 2003 by Jeanne Schulte Scott

"The reductions were mandated by law."

--CMS administrator Tom Scully, announcing the next round of Medicare physician payment cuts mandated by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.

"We're not trying to stir the pot on any of this. All we want is ... a Medicare bill:

--Christin Tinsworth, spokeswoman for Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.).

"There is a shortage now, and doctors can go anywhere, and they do."

--Dr. Richard Cooper, director of the health policy institute at the Medical College of Wisconsin, on the looming physician shortage.

"We are extremely disappointed at the level of participation by hospitals so far."

--CMS administrator Tom Scully, on his dissatisfaction with hospitals that failed to voluntarily report to the new CMS web site on quality.

Compiled by Jeanne Schulte Scott, JD, healthcare lobbyist, Washington, D.C.