The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday advanced a bill that would partially protect radiologists and other specialists from a planned Medicare pay cut in 2024.
Lawmakers passed the Better Mental Health Care, Lower Drug Cost, and Extenders Act in a 26-0 vote, advancing it out of the committee. CMS issued the final 2024 physician fee schedule on Nov. 2, including a 3.4% reduction to the conversion factor used to translate RVUs into payment. The committee proposal would mitigate 1.25% of this cut, along with several other policy changes.
“This package provides a one-year increase to Medicare physician payment. Our goal is to shore up Medicare’s effort in 2024 to boost payment for primary care,” Committee Chairman and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in prepared remarks delivered Nov. 8. “Next year, the Finance Committee will take a deeper look at Medicare physician payment as several provisions in current law need to be reexamined.”
Both Wyden and Ranking Member/Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, praised the committee for moving the legislation along to the full Senate.
“I thank Senator Wyden and every member of the Committee for their partnership in this effort, and look forward to advancing this comprehensive, deficit-cutting, bipartisan legislation,” Crapo said in a statement.
Absent any congressional action, diagnostic radiology will face a 3% pay decrease, while interventional specialists can expect an aggregate 4% reduction. If the legislation eventually passes, it would have the effect of making the conversion factor $33.1485 rather than $33.7442, a decrease of 2.18% instead of 3.37%, Healthcare Administrative Partners estimated Wednesday.
The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, calculated that the fee schedule change proposed under the Better Mental Health Care, Lower Drug Cost, and Extenders Act would cost $670 million over 10 years.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., on Wednesday urged colleagues to consider bigger-picture ways of improving physician reimbursement under the Medicare fee schedule.
"Instead of Congress making payment adjustments every year, it's time we address the underlying issues and make long-term reforms to the physician fee schedule to ensure there is stability for physicians and the Medicare program for the future," he said, according to MedPage Today.
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.