Legislators work to prevent an estimated 9% cut in physician fees next year
Two legislators are asking Congressional leadership to halt proposed cuts to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2022 that will impact pay for nephologists.
Reps. Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind., chair of the Congressional Kidney Caucus, and Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “calling for enactment of legislation that would address both scheduled reductions in Medicare physician payment for 2022, and long-term reforms,” according to the Renal Physicians Association’s RPA News.
The letter was co-signed by 247 other members of the House and supported by the RPA and 138 other specialty societies and medical organizations, according to the RPA.
In their letter, dated Oct. 14, the legislators told Pelosi and McCarthy that based on the proposed cuts and the return of the 2% sequester rule, “the combined impact ... means that all health care professionals are likely facing at least 9% in cuts to Medicare payment, unless Congress takes action.”
In the letter, Bucshon and Bera wrote, “The current Medicare payment system does not adequately incentivize high-quality care, and reimbursement has failed to keep up with inflation. We believe broad systemic reforms to the payment system are critical to speed the transition to value-based care.
“However, as Congress begins the complex process of identifying and considering potential long-term reforms, we must also create stability by addressing the immediate payment cuts facing health care professionals,” the legislators wrote. “These cuts will strain our health care system and jeopardize patient access to medically necessary services.”
The legislators cited the following two main problems with the CMS proposed rule:
Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) “with the goal of moving away from a fee-for-service payment model to a system that ensures providers are paid for the work they do to keep patients healthy, not just treat them when they’re sick,” Bucshon and Bera wrote. However, “most practices lack access to qualified, patient-centered alternative payment models under MACRA.”
The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule “has failed to keep up with inflation and larger increases to some providers must be offset by cuts to other providers, even if there’s no evidence of overpayment,” Bucshon and Bera wrote.
They noted the goal is to bring reform to the Medicare payment system, “and we ask that you start that work as soon as possible.”
Reference:
- Reps. Bucshon and Bera lead House letter urging 2022 physician payment fix, long-term resolution. RPA News. www.renalmd.org/news/. Published Oct. 14, 2021. Accessed Oct. 20, 2021.