The AAMC joined other provider groups in a July 27 letter to key congressional committee leaders urging them to take legislative action to avoid an expected 8.5% cut to physician payments in the Medicare program.
The letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-Texas), and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) thanked the leaders for their action to avert Medicare physician payment cuts through the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act (P.L. 117-22) [refer to Washington Highlights, Dec. 10, 2021]. It notes, however, that while the payment reduction relief policies provided through that law have temporarily stabilized physician payment, additional reductions to Medicare physician payments are impending.
The recently proposed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services calendar year 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule (MPFS) included a cut to the Medicare conversion factor (CF) that amounts to approximately 4.5% [refer to Washington Highlights, July 8]. Additionally, a required statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) reduction of 4% is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. The letter urged Congress to take action to address these cuts.
“These year-over-year cuts clearly demonstrate that the Medicare physician payment system is broken,” the letter stated. It also welcomed the opportunity for the signatory groups to work together with Congress to “establish a pathway for identifying policy solutions that will ensure long-term stability for the MPFS.”
The letter concluded by urging Congress to pass at least a 4.5% CF adjustment for 2023, waive the statutory PAYGO requirement, and also provide a one-year inflationary update based on the Medicare Economic Index. “These important policy changes will undoubtedly provide our members with crucial short-term fiscal stability while simultaneously laying the foundation for necessary long-term payment reforms,” the letter concluded.
- Washington Highlights