Stop the Medicare Payment Cut and Pass a Permanent Fix, House Members Urge Leaders

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The Medicare rate schedule is “inherently broken,” says bipartisan letter from 233 contributors

by
Joyce Frieden, Washington Editor, MedPage Nowadays

October 15, 2024

A majority of Dwelling contributors entreated Dwelling leaders to now now not simplest reverse a proposed 2.8% slash within the Medicare Doctor Price Schedule (MPFS), but additionally to movement a law that can steer clear of such cuts in some unspecified time in the future.

“Elevated instability within the healthcare sector due to the looming sign hikes impacts the flexibility of physicians and clinicians to supply the very perfect quality of care and threatens affected person entry to affordable healthcare,” read a bipartisan letter signed by 233 Dwelling contributors and spearheaded by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-Iowa) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.). “In lieu of those contaminated cuts, which, absent federal regulations, will take prevail in on January 1, 2025, Congress must movement a bill providing physicians and diverse clinicians with a cost change that takes into memoir the associated rate of truly handing over care to sufferers.” The letter, which used to be dated October 11 and made public on Tuesday, used to be despatched to Dwelling Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Dwelling Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

The letter infamous that the proposed cuts label the fifth consecutive year that CMS has proposed a slash to the cost schedule. “While Congress has stepped within the past 4 years to movement regulations to mitigate portions of those cuts, the fact remains that the MPFS is inherently broken,” the contributors wrote. “The continued cuts possess forced scientific groups and integrated methods of care to function sophisticated decisions, similar to imposing hiring freezes, delaying blueprint enhancements, delaying implementation of care model adjustments including transitions to cost-based mostly fully care methods, and presumably weeding out companies and products.”

Medicare funds possess fallen by 29% over the last 2 a protracted time when adjusting for the costs of running a apply, the authors pointed out. “Moreover, compliance with the Advantage-based mostly fully Incentive Price System (MIPS) is dear and a mistaken, insufficient method to measure quality and charges of care that has resulted in steep and unfair penalties.”

Moreover to the inflationary lengthen, “we also test that you just enact focused reforms to statutory MPFS funds neutrality necessities, lift the brand new MPFS funds neutrality threshold to be reflective of 2024 greenbacks … mandate CMS evaluation key parts of apply expense charges similtaneously and no much less in total than every 5 years, and limit adjustments to the MPFS conversion component to no more than 2.5 p.c in a given year,” the letter said. “We stand spellbinding to work with you to movement foremost bipartisan legislative initiatives before the conclusion of the 118th Congress.”

Doctor groups praised the letter. “The Medicare cost blueprint is basically mistaken, and repeated annual cuts are taking a essential toll on rheumatologists, rheumatology care groups, and the U.S. healthcare blueprint as a whole,” Deborah Dyett Desir, MD, president of the American School of Rheumatology, said in a assertion. “We trudge congressional leadership to label the worries of their colleagues and take movement to put in power meaningful legislative solutions that contend with cost cuts, decrease administrative burdens, and memoir for the affect of inflation on physicians. The time for alternate is now — ample is ample.”

The American Clinical Affiliation (AMA) also applauded the letter. “In difference to past congressional efforts, this letter also requests a cost change to replicate inflationary pressures on doctor practices,” said AMA president Bruce Scott, MD, in a assertion. “Because the letter says, the Medicare doctor cost blueprint is ‘inherently broken.’ Indeed, Medicare cost charges possess fallen by 29% over the last two a protracted time, when adjusting for the costs of running a apply, threatening affected person entry and apply viability. “

“We now possess an upcoming election and simplest a rapid time to act,” Scott said. “However the just news is that as a change of gridlock, now we possess settlement. Rather then battle, now we possess compromise. Let’s discover to work and movement these foremost policy adjustments before the tip of the year.”