The American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons on Nov. 19 endorsed a bill that aims to mitigate the 9.75 percent Medicare reimbursement cut facing physicians in 2022.
The Supporting Medicare Providers Act asks Congress to extend the 3.75 percent payment increase for all physician fee schedule services into 2022. The 3.75 percent pay increase, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, is set to expire at the end of the year.
On top of that, physicians are preparing for the expiring moratorium on the 2 percent Medicare sequester and the 4 percent Medicare payment cut precipitated by the statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.
If the legislation is passed, physicians would see Medicare reimbursement reduced by 6 percent in 2022 rather than 9.75 percent.
"Congress needs to address long-term challenges associated with Medicare payment policy, especially the budget neutrality requirements that continue to drive these steep cuts for many physician specialties, including neurosurgery," said John Ratliff, MD, chair of the AANS/CNS Washington Committee. "This temporary measure would help buy some more time for these policy conversations to occur."
The bill was introduced by Reps. Ami Bera, MD, D-Calif., and Larry Bucshon, MD, R-Ind.