Thanks to the many physicians who responded to our Call to Action last month!
You contacted your members of Congress to express opposition to scheduled Medicare Part B physician fee cuts, and Congress responded law.
Specialty physicians and their patients achieved several significant wins in the recently enacted Omnibus Appropriations for FY 2023 legislation (officially the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023”), which President Biden signed into law on December 23, 2022.
Here is what was included:
- The 4% PAYGO sequester physician pay cut was stopped for two years;
- The 4.5% cut to the Medicare Conversion Factor (CF) in 2023 was lowered to a 2% reduction from the 2022 CF, with the cut rising to 3.25% in 2024;
- The Value-based care incentive for participating in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (APMs) was extended although the add-on will be 3.5% v. the 5.0% currently provided.
AB will continue its advocacy efforts to further educate Congress on how inflation and reduced reimbursements will impact access to quality care. That advocacy included Hill visits by Lisa Harrison in September and November of 2022. During our concentrated advocacy toward the end of the year, we received clear indications that Congress would likely avert some of the cuts and this new Congress will consider potential ways to systematically avoid the perennial specter of continued cuts. We will actively engage in that policy discussion, and your continued participation in our advocacy efforts will boost our ability to help our physician partners and their patients.