AMA, radiology societies call on Congress to address ‘inexcusable’ physician pay cut
The American Medical Association and several radiology societies are calling on Congress to halt the fifth year in a row of payment cuts to providers under the physician fee schedule.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the interim rule on July 10, proposing a 2.8% reduction to the conversion factor used to calculate radiologist payments in 2025. Factoring in imaging center global and hospital professional fees, interventional radiologists face a 4.8% combined cut versus 2.8% for diagnostic and nuclear specialists, experts estimated Thursday.
Imaging advocacy groups believe these figures are “inexcusable” at a time when costs continue to climb. Along with the AMA and American College of Radiology, all 50 state medical societies also signed the letter, as did about 75 other health organizations.
“Physician practices, many of which are small businesses, face rising costs for office rent, clinical and administrative staff wages, and professional liability insurance,” AMA wrote House and Senate leaders on July 24. “The unfortunate reality is that these costs are not adequately reflected in current Medicare payment rates. Hospitals and other providers receive annual updates tied to inflation; it is critical that physician payments receive a similar adjustment.”
ACR, AMA, ASTRO, the American Society of Neuroradiology, Society of Interventional Radiology and Association of Academic Radiology suggested several changes to make physicians whole. Those include: (1) reforming the flawed budget neutrality process that is necessitating these cuts (House Resolution 6371). (2) Overhauling the Merit-based incentive Payment System quality program that’s leaving radiologists at a disadvantage. (3) Making modifications to Alternative Payment Models (S. 3503/H.R. 5013). And (4) enacting an annual, permanent inflationary update that is tied to the Medicare Economic Index (H.R. 2474).
The index—a measure of inflation in physician practice costs and wage levels—increased by 4.6% in 2024. Despite this, doc payment rates were cut by 3.37% in early 2024 (though Congress did eventually mitigate part of the reduction). CMS is projecting MEI to rise another 3.6% in 2025, “thus confirming that inflationary costs associated with running a practice continue to rise.”
“The current Medicare physician payment system is increasingly unsustainable and the necessary policy reforms can no longer be delayed without severe repercussions for patient access and quality of care,” the medical societies wrote. “The foundational component of strengthening the current payment system is refining the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule to accurately reflect the fiscal and clinical realities of medical practice today.”
ACR, AMA and others sent the letter as Congress leaves for its summer recess. The associations said they will continue their “sustained lobbying and grassroots campaign to ensure physicians receive Medicare reimbursement reflective of the costs of providing care rather than another round of damaging cuts.”
For further reading:
- The American College of Radiology provided its detailed summary of the 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule on July 25. It also released impact tables for tens of thousands of CPT codes the day before.
- Consulting firm Healthcare Administrative Partners released its own breakdown on Thursday.
- CMS has proposed a rule change in the MPFS that could eliminate uncertainty around how much time radiology practices have to identify overpayments, writes attorney Tom Greeson.
- And finally, the Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging also recently announced its opposition to the conversion factor cut.
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.