Physician congressman hopes to address ‘appalling’ inaction on Medicare pay fix by March
Rep. Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., said Tuesday that he’s hopeful Congress can pass a temporary Medicare pay fix for physicians by March.
The lawmaker spoke during the American Medical Association’s National Advocacy Conference, which took place from Feb. 12-14 in Washington. Bucshon, a former practicing surgeon, called Congress’ inability to protect providers from a 3.4% cut to the conversion factor “appalling,” noting that a remedy would cost about $1.2 billion this year.
“In the immediate term, we need to fix this,” Bucshon said during his speech, according to MedPage Today. “And I'm working hard on it. We are interacting with leadership on both sides. I think we'll get most of those cuts mitigated, either at the end of this month or in March.”
That’s when the continuing resolution—passed in January to avert a government shutdown—is set to expire. Bucshon is optimistic that Congress will pass a short-term pay fix for physicians, while conversations about systemic changes will wait for another day. Physician lobbyists are fighting for an annual Medicare pay raise tied to inflation to help providers counteract rising costs.
"Until policy changes are enacted to address the growing chasm between Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians and the real costs of running a practice, the challenges facing America's physicians will worsen," Bucshon said.
Bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate recently formed a working group to begin brainstorming ways to address Medicare’s flawed approach to physician payment.
Bucshon spoke this week after receiving the AMA Award for Outstanding Government Service. The association recognized the longtime Indiana lawmaker for his “relentless efforts to prevent devastating Medicare physician payment cuts,” among other achievements.
“Throughout his time in Congress, Dr. Bucshon has fought for legislation that improves healthcare for patients and removes burdens on physicians,” AMA Board Chair Willie Underwood III, MD, said in a Feb. 14 announcement.
Read more about Bucshon’s remarks from MedPage:
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.