ASA Applauds Congressional Letter Seeking Relief from Medicare Payment Cuts

CHICAGO – The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) applauds Reps. Ami Bera, M.D. and Larry Bucshon, M.D., along with a bipartisan group of more than 200 members of Congress, including many physician members of Congress, who sent a formal communication to the U.S. House of Representatives’ leadership urging action to address steep payment cuts included in the August 3 CY 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule issued by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
 
In the letter, the members of Congress urged House leadership to explore possible solutions to address the Medicare payment cuts many medical specialties, including hospital-based specialties, will face beginning January 1 if Congress does not act before the end of the year. 
 
“While our nation’s health care community continues to step up to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be extremely harmful to impose drastic payment reductions to practices that are already struggling,” said ASA President Beverly K. Philip, M.D., FACA, FASA. “We are grateful for this action by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, and hope that leadership will take action to end the outdated mandate for budget neutrality and instead create stability and support for health care providers on the front lines.”
 
As proposed, Medicare payments for many medical specialties would be cut significantly and payments for anesthesia would be cut by 10%. If the conversion factor is finalized as proposed, the payment rates for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries beginning on January 1, 2021 will strain health systems financially and drastically diminish opportunities for hospital and physician practices to recover financially from COVID-19. This will harm practices already suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

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