Physician lawmakers urge Congress to pass Medicare pay fix before year’s end

MD lawmakers are urging their colleagues in Congress to pass a Medicare pay fix for radiologists and other physicians before the end of 2024. 

The Biden administration first released next year’s physician fee schedule in July, incorporating a 2.8% cut to the conversion factor used to calculate reimbursement. This is due to congressional budget neutrality requirements, which necessitate spending reductions to make up for increases elsewhere in the physician fee schedule. 

Specialty societies such as the American College of Radiology are urging Congress to pass a legislative fix so that providers receive an annual inflation-based increase to Medicare reimbursement. Representatives in the U.S. House who also are physicians agree, asking their colleagues to act on this issue before 2025. 

“The undersigned bipartisan members of Congress write to urge you to expeditiously pass legislative fixes that not only stop another damaging round of cuts to Medicare payments, but also provide greater certainty and stability for clinicians serving Medicare beneficiaries,” legislators wrote in a draft letter to House leaders shared by ACR Sept. 27. 

The document did not have signatures nor a date at the time of its posting by the college. However, ACR reported in a corresponding news update that Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD, R-Iowa, and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif, are circulating the message among colleagues seeking additional signatures. They’ve already earned the support of Reps. Greg Murphy, MD, R-N.C., Raul Ruiz, MD, D-Calif., Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., Kim Schrier, MD, D-Wash., John Joyce, MD, R-Pa., and Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif. 

Representatives noted that this marks the fifth consecutive year physicians are facing a pay cut in the Medicare program. While Congress has blunted these reductions the last four years, it’s clear the fee schedule is “inherently broken,” reps wrote in their draft message to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Medicare payment rates have fallen 29% over the last 20 years when adjusting for inflation, the message states. 

“To prevent the very real scenario of insufficient access to physicians and other clinicians treating Medicare patients, Congress must stop the 2.8% payment cut from occurring in 2025, enact targeted reforms to statutory budget neutrality requirements, and provide physicians with a payment update reflective of inflationary pressures,” the letter closes. “We stand ready to work with you to pass crucial bipartisan legislative initiatives before the conclusion of the 118th Congress.”

The draft message comes after a recently published report contended that Congress likely will not pass a doc fix until after the November election.