ASCRS News: Government Relations Update
Fall 2024

by Parag Parekh, MD, MPA
ASCRS Government Relations Committee Chair

ASCRS and ASOA members participated in the Capitol Hill Advocacy Conference, and you can make a difference, too

With Congress back in Washington, D.C. for a few weeks before adjourning for the 2024 elections, there is an urgent need for legislators to address the 2.8% cut to physician payment in the proposed CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) before the end of the year. The CY 2025 proposed MPFS conversion factor of $32.36 is a decrease of approximately 2.8% ($0.93) from the CY 2024 MPFS conversion factor of $33.2875. This is the fifth year in a row that physicians have faced cuts under the Medicare system. ASCRS submitted comments on the proposed rule on September 9.

It’s widely acknowledged by experts that chronically inadequate Medicare payment rates will eventually take a toll on older adults’ access to high-quality care. ASCRS has been actively lobbying Congress on the need to prevent the cuts, as well as urging legislators to pass legislation addressing the flaws in the current Medicare payment system that leads to repeated cuts to physician pay.

In July, ASCRS and ASOA members came to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Alliance of Specialty Medicine’s 2024 Capitol Hill Advocacy Conference. More than two dozen physicians and administrators from across the country, including five ASCRS YES Legislative Fly-In Scholarship recipients, members of the ASCRS Government Relations Committee, ASOA President Hayley Boling, MBA, COE, ASCRS Executive Director Steve Speares, ASCRS President Vance Thompson, MD, and ASCRS Vice President Francis Mah, MD, heard presentations from physician-legislators and visited congressional offices to urge legislative action to stop the cuts and fix the payment system. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-IA), an ophthalmologist, stopped by the ASCRS closing night dinner to greet members and provide an outlook for healthcare legislation in the last few months of the 118th Congress.

While on the Hill, our members urged legislators to cosponsor H.R. 2474, the Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act, which would provide an annual inflation update equal to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) for Medicare physician payments, as well as H.R. 6371, the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act, and H.R. 6545, the Physician Fee Schedule Update and Improvements Act, both of which would reform the budget-neutrality rules for Medicare.

“It is vitally important that administrators join with physicians to fight these cuts,” Ms. Boling said. “Cuts in Medicare reimbursement directly impact the ability of our practices to keep the doors open and provide the quality care our patients need. I try to come to Washington every year to help in these efforts. It’s critical to get involved and make our voices heard because if we’re not in the room and at the table, we’re on the menu.” 

“Coming to Washington and visiting the Hill with other specialty physicians, you can see how important these one-on-one meetings with our legislators are,” Dr. Thompson said. “Over the years, I have been able to develop close relationships with several of my congressmen, and I know they are committed to helping solve the problems with the Medicare fee schedule.”

You can help in this effort by reaching out to your congressmen through the ASCRS Physician Payment Action Alert on the ASCRS website. It’s an easy way to let your legislators know these cuts are unacceptable, and reforms to the payment system are needed now. 

We encourage you to edit portions of the provided message to add personal information about your practice. Please make sure to include examples of how these reductions and the absence of an inflation update will impact your patients and your practice. 

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Contact

Parekh: parag2020@gmail.com