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.
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.
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.
Protect Medicare Patients' Access to Care
Cuts to physicians’ Medicare payments – like the 3.37% cut that took effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and other payment reductions physicians have endured over the last two decades – harm Medicare patients. The cuts are forcing physicians to reduce how many new Medicare patients they can see, retire early, or leave their medical practice altogether. As a result, these impacts reduce access to care for all types of patients.
Federal Advocacy main page
Last Updated On
February 13, 2024
Originally Published On
February 08, 2024