News and briefs: Details of Medicare cuts announced

Last week, the Office of Management and Budget released its report outlining $109 billion in sequestration cuts, including $11 billion to Medicare annually over the next decade. According to HealthLeaders Media,cuts include: $5.8 billion to the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, $2.5 billion to the National Institutes of Health, and $591 million to prescription drug funding. The cuts will go into effect Jan. 3, 2013, unless Congress finds another solution to trim the federal deficit. 

The $11 billion cut to Medicare represents a 2% reduction of the overall Medicare budget. The American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, and American Nurses Association released a report last week saying if the sequester goes into effect, there will 760,000 fewer healthcare jobs by 2021, which is the last year of the sequester.

"Hospitals will have to make tough choices about which services to maintain because of potential cuts since hospitals will maintain the highest quality for whatever services they provide," says Marie Watteau of the American Hospital Association in an article with HealthLeaders Media.