Radiology Partners leader urges physicians to turn their Medicare ire toward Congress
A leader with the nation’s largest radiology practice is urging fellow physicians to turn their ire over Medicare pay cuts toward Congress rather than CMS.
The agency announced the latest physician fee schedule on July 10, proposing a 2.8% reduction to the conversion factor used to calculate payments in 2025. This amounts to a roughly 2.8% combined cut for diagnostic and nuclear medicine specialists, along with a 4.8% reduction for interventional radiologists.
Despite raging inflation and rising staff costs, the conversion factor is the lowest it’s been since 1993, Richard Heller, MD, MBA, wrote in an opinion piece for MedPage Today on Wednesday. For context, he noted, a movie ticket was about $4 back then and Blockbuster Video was still very much in business.
The sizable cut to IR specialists is especially inexcusable, with the specialty offering minimally invasive treatments that often save money for the federal payment program.
“A healthcare policy focused on improving the value of care delivery, which is a goal of CMS, should emphasize investment in such specialties, not disincentivize them with annual pay cuts,” wrote Heller, a Chicago-based pediatric radiologist and SVP for health policy at Rad Partners.
While one’s first instinct may be to blame the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Heller emphasized that it was policies established by Congress that created this reality. Only lawmakers in Washington can fix this budget neutrality mess.
“Like other healthcare professionals, I am disappointed and frustrated to see another looming cut to Medicare payment,” he concluded. “I appreciate the work that CMS is doing but also understand the agency's limits. Let us hope that Congress recognizes the importance of the Medicare system and realizes that action is necessary to protect it. Medicare patients and providers deserve better than a pay rate that is older than Amazon (founded 1994).”
Read the rest of the opinion piece here:
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.