The fight continues: Cardiologists turn up heat on Congress to stop Medicare payment cuts
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is one many U.S. medical societies still working to stop the significant Medicare cuts expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
The ACC joined the American Medical Association and dozens of other groups—including the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, Heart Rhythm Society, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and Society of Thoracic Surgeons—in a new letter urging Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to stop the upcoming Medicare cuts from going into effect.
The letter, dated Sept. 22, states that physicians all over the United States “continue to be deeply alarmed about the mounting financial instability of the Medicare physician payment system.”
“This instability is being driven by a confluence of fiscal uncertainties physician practices face related to statutory payment cuts, perennial lack of inflationary updates, significant administrative barriers and the cumulative impact of the pandemic,” according to the letter. “The Medicare payment system remains on an unsustainable path threatening beneficiaries’ access to physicians.”
The letter goes on to detail the numerous cuts to Medicare physician payments that have occurred in recent years. When taking inflation into account, the groups wrote, Medicare physician payments were decreased 20% from 2001 to 2021. And an ongoing statutory freeze in annual payments is not scheduled to end until 2026, which it will resume at a rate well below inflation.
“The discrepancy between what it costs to run a physician practice and actual payment combined with the administrative and financial burden of participating in Medicare is incentivizing market consolidation,” according to the letter. “The physician community stands ready to work with Congress to develop long-term solutions to the systemic problems with the Medicare physician payment system and preserve patient access.”
The groups asked Congress for “relief” from the scheduled -4.42% budget neutrality cut in Medicare physician fee schedule payments and an end to the ongoing statutory freeze. They also asked for the 5% Advanced Alternative Payment Model participation incentive to be extended and the 4% PAYGO sequester, originally triggered by the American Rescue Plan Act, to be waived.
We appreciate your consideration and look forward to working with you and your colleagues to end the destructive cycle of annual Medicare cuts and to establish a permanent Medicare payment system that improves and preserves patient access to physician care,” the groups concluded.
More details from the ACC, and a link to the complete letter sent to Congress, are available here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.