MedPAC recommends inflation-based pay update for radiologists and other physicians

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday recommended that Congress modify payments for radiologists and other specialists in 2025 based on inflation, drawing support from physician advocacy groups.

MedPAC suggested that doc pay should rise next year by half the Medicare Economic Index increase. It also urged Congress to enact a non-budget-neutral add-on payment for services provided to low-income Medicare beneficiaries, the American Hospital Association reported Jan. 11.

Organizations such as the AMA praised the suggestion, noting that Medicare payment rates continue to fall while practice expenses have “soared.”

“The American Medical Association has long championed this reform and commends MedPAC for voting this year to again call for lawmakers to adopt an inflation-based update for 2025 as a critical first step toward the necessary work of reforming the broken Medicare payment system,” President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, said in a statement.

MedPAC also previously called for an inflation-based doc pay update in 2023. However, the final physician fee schedule that took effect Jan. 1 included a 3.37% cut to the conversion factor. AMA noted that, when adjusting for inflation, Medicare physician pay plummeted 26% from 2001 to 2023, underlining the need for a congressional response.

“It is urgent that Congress act now to reverse the 3.37% Medicare cut that took effect on January 1, 2024, and tie future updates to inflation to prevent the problem from getting worse,” Ehrenfeld said in the statement.

Physician lobbying groups continue to press Congress to retroactively correct the cut to the conversion factor. On Jan. 10, the Medical Group Management Association asked CMS for guidance on the potential rebilling of repriced claims submitted after Jan. 1 (if Congress ends up taking action).