In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the proposed 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule which calls for a decrease in the Medicare conversion factor for the fifth straight year. Without Congressional action, physicians will see a 2.8 percent reduction in Medicare payments beginning January 1, 2025.
KMA recently joined the American Medical Association (AMA), 49 other state medical associations, and 76 national medical specialty societies in a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to stop the cut and act on proposed legislation to reform the Medicare physician payment system by:
- Establishing an annual, permanent inflationary payment update in Medicare that is tied to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) – H.R. 2474;
- Enacting budget neutrality reforms – H.R. 6371;
- Overhauling the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS); and
- Modifying Alternative Payment Models (APMs) – S. 3503/H.R. 5013.
As Congress returns home for the annual August recess, now is the time for physicians to engage with their legislators while they are in the district and urge them to cosponsor these priority bills. The AMA has developed an online “Advocacy Hub” as a one-stop shop for toolkits and resources to assist physicians in their advocacy efforts. For more information on the need for Medicare physician payment reform and how you can get involved, visit https://fixmedicarenow.org/.
