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Congress Acts on Physician Payment, Provides Some Relief on Medicare Fee Cuts
Dec. 22, 2022 - Over the past several weeks, we have called on you to join us in pushing Congress to halt the entire 4.5 percent cut to the conversion factor in the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule. We thank all of you who contacted your Members of Congress with this message. Today, we can share that our efforts were effective, though not as much as we hoped.
Update from Capitol Hill
The Senate has passed an end-of-year spending bill that will provide a 2.5 percent positive payment adjustment in 2023 and a 1.25 percent adjustment in 2024. The result for physicians will be a 2 percent net fee cut starting January 1, 2023. The bill also delays for two years the threat of an additional 4 percent Medicare sequester, which would have been triggered due to budgetary requirements.
The House of Representatives is expected to pass the bill and send it to President Biden.The System Is Unsustainable
While the provisions in the new bill are a step in the right direction from the cuts the physician community was facing, they fall well short of providing the full relief that ASNC and the House of Medicine requested of Congress and that physicians deserve.ASNC remains deeply concerned that this fee cut threatens the financial viability of physician practices and will impact physician morale, especially since all of the other Medicare provider categories are receiving positive updates.
The current budget-neutral physician payment system is unsustainable. Without any further action by Congress next year, payment cuts are likely for 2024 and beyond. We assure you that ASNC will continue pushing for comprehensive Medicare payment reform and working for you.