Fixing the Medicare payment system is a perennial goal for medicine. And as the health care system as whole is under more and more scrutiny at the federal level, and changing rapidly, TMA remains vocal in protecting the patient-physician relationship and supporting the practice of medicine.
Protect Medicare Patients' Access to Care
Congress must act now to stop and reverse the 2025 cuts to physicians’ Medicare payments and enact comprehensive reform that ensures a sensible, stable system for physicians and their patients.
Prior Authorization Reform
Research has shown over and over that health plans’ excessive use of prior authorizations are anything but healthy for patients and physician practices, who often face long wait times to get critical care approved.
Electronic Funds Transfers (EFTs)
Average employees don’t pay a fee to receive their paycheck via direct deposit. Yet physicians are regularly subjected to such practices by health plans to receive payment for delivering health care to their patients. Over a decade ago, the federal government established standards for paying physicians electronically via electronic funds transfers (EFTs), with the aim of increasing efficiency and saving money associated with the manual processing of paper checks. As a result, health insurers since 2012 have been required to offer EFTs to pay physicians.
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Last Updated On
February 07, 2025
Originally Published On
February 08, 2024