On January 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a 3.37% cut to physician payment, as finalized in calendar year (CY) 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule. Despite considering legislation to mitigate the cut in the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees, Congress did not intervene to prevent the cut before the first of the year or by January 19, the first fiscal year (FY) 2024 funding deadline of the year. The next opportunity for Congress to address the pay cut will be in early March when government funding expires once again.
Republicans and Democrats have both expressed support for a payment fix. Despite their lack of success to date, Congressional champions are determined to advance a prospective pay fix, paying physicians at a higher rate going forward to account for the time the cut has been implemented. A retrospective pay fix is administratively burdensome because of the time it would take CMS to process claims and physicians would be forced to collect corrected co-pays for services already delivered.
Representatives Greg Murphy (R-NC), Danny Davis (D-IL), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), and Larry Bucshon (R-IN) introduced H.R. 6683, the Preserving Seniors’ Access to Physicians Act of 2023, to eliminate the full MPFS cut. SGO is pleased to support H.R. 6683, and we need your help to urge Congress to support this legislation. Please act now and ask your Representatives to co-sponsor and enact H.R. 6683 as soon as possible to protect the Medicare patients that you care for.