The alarm bell has been sounding for months that if Congress didn't act by the end of the year, physicians would face devastating Medicare payment cuts from regulatory changes enacted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Unfortunately, as you can see by the countdown timer above, Congress has only a few precious days left to pass legislation to stave off these harmful cuts.
If Congress fails to act, physician Medicare payments are scheduled to be cut by 4.5 percent on January 1, 2023. Cuts of this magnitude would severely impede patient access to care by forcing many physician practices to close and thereby putting further strain on those that remained open during the pandemic.
These scheduled cuts will come in the form of:
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation. CMS has proposed a 4.5% cut for all physician services in 2023 to offset payment policy improvements in office and facility-based visits.
- No inflationary update. Physicians are the only ones whose Medicare payments do not automatically receive an annual inflationary update; during this time of record inflation and coming on the heels of a highly disruptive pandemic, this statutory flaw amplifies the impact of proposed payment cuts.
When adjusted for inflation, Medicare physician payments have dropped by 22% from 2001 to 2021. Physicians simply cannot afford to operate under the current payment system. Congress must reform the Medicare physician payment system to make it simpler, more reflective of real-world physician practice costs and stable for both physicians and patients before it's too late!
The "lame duck" session of Congress is always a chaotic time with numerous priorities and interests vying to be included in the final must-pass package. With so much at stake, America's patients and physicians cannot afford to get lost in the shuffle.
Time is running out - Contact Congress NOW and demand that they protect our patients and practices by canceling these devastating Medicare cuts in their entirety before the clock strikes zero!
