Multiple cardiology and cardiology-adjacent medical societies have joined the fight to increase support for new legislation that would reform Medicare payment policies and have a radical impact on the U.S. healthcare system.
HR 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act, was first introduced to the House on April 6. The bill would tie the annual Medicare physician fee schedule to the Medicare Economic Index, a move designed to provide physicians with reimbursement rates that accurately reflect the state of the U.S. economy. Physician payments have declined 26% since 2001, including a 2% reduction that went into effect in 2023.
The American Medical Association (AMA) and more than 100 other medical societies have now signed a new letter asking Congress to guide the legislation through the House and Senate so that it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The American College of Cardiology, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), Society of Thoracic Surgeons and American Society of Nuclear Cardiology all signed the AMA letter. The list of groups adding their names to the document also includes the American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Physicians, American College of Radiology, American College of Surgeons, American Medical Group Association and Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
“The annual ‘stop the Medicare payment cut’ exercises are due, in no small part, to the fact that physician services do not receive the annual inflationary update that virtually all other Medicare providers can rely on to better weather periods of fiscal uncertainty,” the groups wrote. “The COVID-19 pandemic further illustrated the challenges physicians endure due to the current broken Medicare payment system. While the temporary and partial patches that Congress has provided through 2024 were necessary under the current payment system, they are a distraction, exacerbate budgeting challenges for practices, and divert resources that both medicine and Congress could be spending on other meaningful health care policies and innovations. Therefore, organized medicine is united in support of a long-term payment solution that centers on annual inflationary updates.”
“The costs of running a medical practice have risen exponentially over the past few years while Medicare reimbursement rates have declined,” ASNC president Mouaz Al- Mallah, MD, added in a separate statement in support of HR2474. “Congressional action on HR 2474 and a permanent, inflationary update in the Physician Fee Schedule will help to ameliorate this issue and better keep pace with the economic reality many physicians face.”
Read the full letter here. Read more about SCAI’s support of the legislation here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.