Congress adjourns for 2023 without a radiologist pay fix
Congress has adjourned for 2023 without voting on a solution to address a radiologist pay cut looming on Jan. 1.
Representatives finished their final votes on Wednesday with members returning to their districts, according to published reports. Meanwhile, the Senate was expected to wrap up its last day of the year on Thursday, with both chambers planning to return Jan. 9.
Key congressional committees had recently advanced legislation to offset a nearly 3.4% cut to the conversion factor next year. However, it appears the full House and Senate will not vote on a doc Medicare pay fix before the year’s end.
Physicians in the House penned a letter to congressional leaders on Dec. 14—signed by 193 members of Congress—asking them to vote on a solution before they adjourned.
“We write today as a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging you to act quickly to prevent a 3.37% cut to Medicare reimbursement payments that will occur on January 1, 2024,” implored Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD, R-Iowa, Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., Kim Schrier, MD, D-Wash. and colleagues. “We in Congress must continue our partnership with the physician and provider community to ensure that Medicare patients continue to have access to quality care. Physicians and other healthcare providers, who are confronting inflationary pressures and workforce shortages, need Congress to prevent this cut, which will add significant burdens to the healthcare infrastructure and the communities they serve.”
Advocates thanked MD lawmakers for championing a potential law change while urging others on the Hill to appreciate this issue’s urgency.
“I want to express our deepest gratitude to the nearly 200 members of Congress who have signed onto the letter advocating for complete conversion factor cut relief,” Kit Crancer, president of the Radiology Business Management Association and senior VP of public policy partnerships at Rayus Radiology, said Thursday. “Their bipartisan commitment to passing a ‘fix’ demonstrates a profound understanding of the challenges faced by healthcare providers and underscores the importance of sustainable healthcare economics.”
“The Medicare payment rate is in freefall, and another 3.37% reduction will have devastating consequences,” American Medical Association President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, said in a news release from the physician lawmakers. “Seniors will lose access to their physicians, practices will close, and rural and underserved areas will feel these effects first.”
The American College of Radiology issued an update about the congressional adjournment on Thursday, noting that it will continue pressuring Congress on the issue. ACR expects the House and Senate to address this issue when lawmakers debate the next government funding Continuing Resolution set to expire on Jan. 19. If lawmakers OK a solution, the college said it expects Medicare claims to be adjusted retroactive to the first of the year.
“Although there is no congressional consensus yet, ACR is encouraged by the various proposals to address these cuts,” according to the news item. “Please stay tuned to updates on this highly fluid congressional situation,” it added later.
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.