The Kentucky Medical Association (KMA) joined the American Medical Association (AMA) and more than 120 other state medical associations and national specialty societies in urging Congress to stop the impending Medicare payment cuts for 2023 and end the destructive cycle of annual cuts that threaten patients’ access to care.
Unless Congress acts by the end of the year, physician Medicare payments will be reduced by 8.42 percent in 2023 based on the following:
- A scheduled 4.42 percent budget neutrality cut in Medicare physician fee schedule payments
- A 4 percent Congressional Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) sequester triggered by COVID-19-related spending in the American Rescue Plan
In addition to urging action to avert the payment cuts in 2023, the letter calls on Congress to end the statutory annual freeze and provide an inflationary update for the coming year, and highlights the need for long-term and systemic Medicare physician payment reforms.
With only a few legislative days left in the session, physicians are encouraged to contact Congress and ask them to preserve patient access to care by stopping the scheduled Medicare payment reductions from going into effect on January 1, 2023.
