Radiology societies, all 50 state medical associations push Medicare pay fix
Multiple radiology societies and all 50 state medical associations on Monday urged Congress to address the physician Medicare pay cut that took effect Jan. 1.
A total of 80 healthcare organizations signed the message, sent to leaders in the U.S. House and Senate. They’re pushing politicians to approve the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of 10 representatives on Jan. 31.
The bill would undo the 2.83% cut to the conversion factor, used to calculate physician payments, also providing a 2% increase. Advocates led by the American Medical Association believe this will help to stabilize physician practices while also protecting patient access to care.
“The time for legislative action is now,” the American College of Radiology, American Society of Neuroradiology, Society of Interventional Radiology and others wrote Feb. 10. “America’s physicians and the millions of patients we treat can no longer accept any excuses—such as an overcrowded legislative calendar, competing policy priorities, or an inability to achieve bipartisan consensus—as reasons for not including provisions that reverse the latest round of cuts and provide a crucial payment update in next appropriations package.”
Congress faces a March 14 deadline to pass a continuing resolution and avert a government shutdown. Physician societies said they were “surprised and deeply disappointed” to find out that lawmakers failed to include any payment relief for the profession when passing the last resolution in December. When accounting for inflation, doctors have seen their Medicare pay fall 33% since 2001, the AMA estimates, while practice costs continue to escalate.
“The decision by Congress to extend a variety of other expiring hospital, ambulance, and telehealth provisions in the American Relief Act 2025 without providing physicians any relief was equally troubling,” the groups wrote. “Furthermore, our members understandably think that the federal government has essentially turned its back on physicians following the recent CMS announcement that Medicare Advantage plans will receive an average payment increase of 4.33% from 2025 to 2026.”
Others signing the letter included the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, American College of Radiation Oncology, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. You can find the full letter 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.