House bill would avert physician pay cut in Medicare 

Photo: John Fedele/Getty Images

A bill introduced in the House would avert a pending 3.37% physician pay cut to Medicare payments, according to the American Medical Association.

"As of today, patients and physicians have a clear-eyed view on how to protect Medicare from injurious cuts. A bipartisan group of House members – led by Reps. Greg Murphy, M.D., (R-N.C), Danny Davis, (D-Ill.), Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. (R-Ohio), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-Ind.) and Michael Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) – introduced HR 6683 that would eliminate the pending 3.37% cuts to Medicare payments. These cuts threaten healthcare access for seniors as well as the viability of physician practices, including many in rural and underserved areas. Canceling the cut is a good new year's resolution," said AMA President Dr. Jesse M. Ehrenfeld. 

Meanwhile, the American Hospital Association said it supports a provision in the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (H.R. 5378) that would suspend the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital reductions for two years.

The House Majority Leader indicated on December 5 that this bill may be considered in the week ahead, according to govtrack.

The AHA has urged House leaders to reject another provision that would permanently implement reductions to Medicare payments for drug administration services in off-campus hospital outpatient departments.

"Existing site-neutral payment cuts have already had a significantly negative impact on the financial sustainability of hospitals and health systems and have contributed to Medicare's chronic failure to cover the cost of caring for its beneficiaries," the AHA wrote in a letter to House leaders. "This proposal would expand upon these shortfalls, further exacerbating the financial challenges facing many hospitals and threaten patients' access to quality care."
 
Among other changes, the AHA said the legislation should allow hospitals to continue using price-estimator tools to meet the shoppable services requirement as allowed under the Hospital Price Transparency Rule and permit CMS to continue to determine the maximum penalty assessed to noncompliant hospitals, rather than set a maximum amount in statute, remove unnecessary and burdensome provisions that would establish unique identifiers for off-campus HOPDs, and require 340B entities to report the difference between their acquisition cost and payments from Medicaid managed care organizations.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Hospitals and physicians are lauding the healthcare bills. The 118th Congress is scheduled for its December recess at the end of next week.

There could soon be an agreement between House and Senate leaders on a top-line 2024 spending number to head off a partial government shutdown in mid-January. Such a deal would serve as a starting gun for bipartisan negotiations on spending bills, according to Reuters.

THE LARGER TREND

The AMA has long supported legislation to prevent the pay cuts in the Physician Fee Schedule final rule. Payment amounts in 2024 would be reduced by 1.25% overall, compared to 2023.

Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org