Bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate are pressuring Congress to address a physician Medicare pay cut that will enter its third month on March 1.
Lawmakers led by Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., voiced their concerns in a Feb. 23 letter to leaders in the Senate. They highlighted the 3.37% cut to the conversion factor that took effect Jan. 1, noting that rising costs and physician shortages are crippling small practices.
“After three consecutive years of Medicare payment reductions, healthcare providers are at a breaking point and are struggling to maintain access to care for the Medicare beneficiaries they treat,” 32 senators wrote to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday. “Facing a nearly 10% reduction in Medicare payments over the past four years, rising practice costs, workforce shortages, and financial uncertainty resulting from the pandemic, some practices are already limiting the number of Medicare patients they see, or the types of services offered.”
Boozman and colleagues believe Congress “must urgently work together” with the physician community to devise long-term legislative solutions to the flawed Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. Doing so is crucial to helping maintain access and shift the industry toward value-based care.
“In the interim, the most important step that Congress can take to create stability in the Medicare program is to address the cut to Medicare payments,” the letter closed. “We as policymakers must ensure that healthcare providers who treat Medicare patients continue to have the necessary financial support to care for our nation’s seniors.”
Earlier this month, U.S. senators formed a working group to brainstorm ways to modify Medicare’s approach to physician payment. In the House, meanwhile, representatives such as Greg Murphy, MD, R-N.C., have advocated for the Preserving Seniors' Access to Physicians Act, which would shield docs from the pay cut.
Members of the Radiology Business Management Association will be on Capitol Hill Wednesday to meet with members of Congress and advocate for funding to “make physicians whole” in 2024.
“We think it is critical to foster discussions around physician payment reform and RBMA will meet with members of a Senate working group looking at this type of payment reform,” Executive Director Bob Still told Radiology Business Monday. “Quite simply, this Congress needs to start solving problems and not be part of the problem.”
The American Medical Association shared the letter on Feb. 23 while noting it also plans to work with Congress in the coming weeks to achieve the goals senators are seeking.
“This bipartisan support reflects the deep concern across the country that these cuts endanger healthcare access for constituents, especially those in rural and underserved areas,” AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, said in a statement.
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.