AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Public Policy Officer Karen Fisher, JD, issued the following statement on the release of a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government through Feb. 18, 2022.
“The AAMC is dismayed that policymakers have not yet addressed upcoming devastating cuts to hospitals and providers or completed appropriations legislation to fully fund programs vital to patients and communities in fiscal year 2022.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, teaching hospitals and faculty physicians across the country are facing unprecedented, unabating challenges. It is critical that Congress eliminate the 4% statutory cut from the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) provision, extend the moratorium on the 2% Medicare payment sequester, and maintain the 3.75% increase in Medicare physician payments in 2022. Cuts of this magnitude – at a time when many teaching hospitals and faculty physician plans have not financially recovered from the impacts of COVID-19 and continue to grapple with unpredictable stresses on their finances – would harm the patients and communities these providers serve.
While the CR, importantly, would avert a catastrophic federal government shutdown, long-term CRs create uncertainty and are disruptive to medical research progress, public health efforts, and health workforce programs supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. People throughout the nation rely on the work funded by these agencies to combat the full array of health threats the nation faces every day, and prolonged periods of budgetary limbo threaten to undermine this work.
The AAMC urges Congress and the administration to work in a bipartisan manner to eliminate cuts to providers by the end of the year and pass the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills without further delays. This important work is needed to help promote the health of patients, families, and communities across the country.”