Rep. Larry Bucshon, MD (R-Ind.)

A bipartisan effort is underway in Washington, D.C., to save physicians from looming cuts in the Medicare physician payment system that could prove catastrophic for many practices. Set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022, the cuts are estimated at a combined 9.75%.

Thankfully, Rep. Larry Bucshon, MD (R-Ind.) and Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-Calif.) are stepping up, the AMA reports. Reps. Bucshon and Bera are asking their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to sign on to a bipartisan letter urging legislative action before the end of 2021 to stop the cuts.

If the cuts take effect as planned, physician practices face several Medicare payment hits:

• Expiration of the current reprieve from the repeatedly extended 2% sequester stemming from the Budget Control Act of 2011. Congress originally scheduled this policy to sunset in 2021, but it will now continue into 2030.
• Imposition of a 4% statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) sequester resulting from passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. Should lawmakers fail to act, it will mark the first time that Congress has failed to waive statutory PAYGO.
• Expiration of the 3.75% temporary increase in the Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS) conversion factor enacted by Congress to avoid payment cuts associated with budget neutrality adjustments tied to PFS policy changes.
• A statutory freeze in annual Medicare PFS updates under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) that is scheduled to last until 2026, when updates resume at a rate of 0.25% a year indefinitely – a figure well below the rate of medical or consumer price index inflation.

Please join the ISMA and the AMA by asking your representative to sign on to this letter:

Visit the AMA Physicians Grassroot Network page >>