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- CAP, Physician Coalition Fights Future Medicare Cuts
The CAP is opposing steep Medicare cuts scheduled to take effect in 2022 and is engaging with Congress to educate lawmakers on the impacts such a cut will have on pathology practices. The CAP, along with a coalition representing more than 350,000 physicians, has asked the House and Senate to make critical reforms to the Medicare system to stop deep reimbursement cuts for certain specialties, including pathologists, in future years.
In February 22 letters to House and the Senate, the physician coalition asked Congress to address a budget neutrality requirement for the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) that is causing the reductions in payment.
“We want to call your attention to the continued critical need for reforms to the Medicare system and additional work required to resolve deficiencies in the [fee schedule], including addressing the budget neutrality requirement which can lead to arbitrary reductions to reimbursement unrelated to the cost of providing care,” the coalition members stated. “A secondary goal of the fee schedule should be to reflect the modern health care delivery system in which different health care professionals work collaboratively to advance appropriate health outcomes for their patients. Unfortunately, these goals are not reflected given that there are additional scheduled deep cuts to providers who are reimbursed under the MPFS for 2022, 2023, and 2024 that will negatively impact patient care and diminish practitioners’ small businesses, further slowing our nation’s health and economic recovery from the pandemic.”
At the end of 2020, the CAP, along with the coalition, supported a bipartisan effort that alleviated payment cuts to providers, which were set to take effect under the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.