Congress Addresses Medicare Payment Cuts and Government Funding to Avert a Shutdown

On Dec. 10, President Biden signed into law S. 610, “Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act,” that Congress approved hours earlier addressing the looming 9% Medicare payments cuts scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022. The bill also provided a legislative pathway for the Senate to raise the debt ceiling limit. The bill includes the following Medicare provisions:

• Increases the Medicare conversion factor rate for physicians by 3% for Calendar Year (CY) 2022. Under the 2022 fee schedule final rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) cut the conversion factor by 3.75%.
• Further delays the 2% Medicare sequestration cuts for three months, through March 31, 2022, followed by a 1% cut for the subsequent three months and full reinstatement of the 2% sequestration cut on July 1, 2022.
• Delays the 4% statutory PAYGO cuts through Dec. 31, 2022.
  S. 610 also delays for one year a radiation oncology payment model and eliminates a 15% reduction in payments for clinical diagnostic lab tests for 2022 and then extends the 15% reduction through 2025.

With the enactment of this legislation, CMS will soon be publishing a new 2022 conversion factor rate to reflect the 3% payment adjustment. Under the 2022 fee schedule final rule, the conversion factor was previously set at $33.59, a decrease of $1.30 from the CY 2021 fee schedule conversion factor of $34.89. To find the new 2022 conversion factor rate when that information becomes available, please visit the CMS website.

The Medicare payment cut relief was the result of a strong, sustained advocacy effort by the entire physician community. Many thanks to all SGO members who supported this effort by contacting their Members of Congress to urge action to stop the Medicare cuts.
Earlier this month, Congress also approved legislation to avert a federal government shutdown. A Continuing Resolution (CR) that provides current Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 level funding for federal programs through Feb. 18, 2022 was approved by Congress on Dec. 2, 2021 just a day before the previous CR was set to expire at midnight Dec. 3, 2021.
Significant disagreements on broad funding allocations for defense and non-defense programs continue to stall final congressional action on the FY 2022 spending bills. Congressional leaders now have some breathing room to iron out differences on broad spending parameters and move forward with finalizing FY 2022 appropriations before Feb. 18, 2022.

The stalemate is particularly unfortunate given SGO’s success in securing an unprecedented $45 million for the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP) in the House FY 2022 Defense Appropriations bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee this past summer. The OCRP and other non-controversial federal programs that enjoy broad bipartisan support are all victims of the broader political dispute. Funding for these programs will remain in limbo at current FY 2021 levels until the stalemate is resolved.

We hope all SGO advocates rest up, enjoy the holidays and come back ready in the new year to launch a strong advocacy push to secure completion of the FY 2022 spending bills and enactment of the $45 million funding level for the Department of Defense OCRP.