The American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons shared its formal comments to CMS on the agency's proposed 2024 payment policy changes.
Among its top concerns is a proposed pay cut in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
"Orthopedic surgeons have been at the forefront of the transition to value-based care, and we are eager to work together to improve upon existing value-based payment and delivery models in the Medicare program," President Kevin Bozic, MD, said in a Sept. 18 news release. "However, our ability to deliver high quality musculoskeletal care is hampered by inflationary pressures on practice expense. By some estimates, the MPFS conversion factor would have been double the amount being currently proposed, had it kept up with inflation."
The organization also said it opposed proposals to let sacroiliac joint arthrodesis codes be covered in office settings, and there's opposition to the implementation of Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System code G2211 to be used with existing evaluation and management visits.
The AAOS supported the move to extend hospital market basket-based updates for ASCs and asked CMS to update ASC payments this way permanently. Leaders are also asking CMS to consider peer-reviewed evidence to make decisions when it comes to the IPO list.