Unless Congress acts by the end of the year, physicians face another big cut to their Medicare payments on Jan. 1.
This new round of cuts totals 8.5%, by chipping away 4.5% from the Medicare conversion factor on top of a 4% Medicare cut stemming from the Statutory Pay‐As‐You‐Go (PAYGO) Act (sequestration).
Cutting physician payments – especially as physicians are still recovering from a pandemic – jeopardizes Medicare patients and their physicians, says Texas Medical Association President Gary Floyd, MD.
At a minimum, the Texas Medical Association, American Medical Association, and others in organized medicine are urging Congress to pass House Resolution 8800, the Supporting Medicare Providers Act of 2022, which stops the physician Medicare payment cuts scheduled for January 2023.
Long term, organized medicine is calling on Congress to find and pass a permanent, reliable Medicare physician payment system that:
- Keeps up with inflation and practice costs;
- Provides a baseline annual physician pay raise to keep up with inflation;
- Eliminates, replaces, or revises so-called budget neutrality requirements (which require any physician pay increase or decrease to be offsetting);
- Incentivizes value-based care; and
- Reduces health disparities.
Now is the time to take action via TMA's Grassroots Action Center: Tell your U.S. representative and Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to stop these cuts and take immediate action to establish a reliable Medicare physician payment system that keeps up with inflation and practice costs.
Last Updated On
November 08, 2022
Originally Published On
October 28, 2022
Brent Annear
Associate Vice President, Media Relations and Leadership Advancement
Division of Communications and Marketing
(512) 370-1381
brent.annear[at]texmed[dot]org
As TMA’s AVP of media relations and leadership advancement, Brent Annear has worked in communications for several decades. He joined TMA in 2001 after nearly 20 years in television news. Brent and his team share TMA’s mission and vision with the world through news releases, social media posts, podcasts, and videos. He also helps hone TMA physician leaders’ communication skills. A University of Texas graduate who hails from Minnesota, Brent is married with two adult stepchildren. He enjoys volunteering, sports, travel, and hobbies, and is a private pilot.